Famiglia
by darksnow00
Summary: AR. Right after getting back from the future, all Tsuna wants was a peaceful life with his friends and family. But suddenly problem comes and the need to consider his position as heir to Vongola has risen. He couldn't help but rethink. No yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This just came to me out of the blue and I just thought that I have to write this so here it is. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR, Akira Amano-sensei does.

* * *

Tsuna slumped down on his bed and raised his hands as if reaching for the ceiling, He looked at the two rings on his fingers, one is of Natsu's and the other is the Vongola Ring.

_In the future, they said that I became the boss… Does that mean that I should just accept it?_ He asked himself and held his hand to a ball. He groaned,_ but if I do become the boss then Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera-kun, Onii-san… everyone would get involved as well. Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan would be in danger. I can't let that happen._

He took his hand and turned to his side. Then, he saw the ring Lancia have given him.

_Even Lancia-san got a hard time because he joined the mafia. And besides… Am I even capable of becoming a leader?_ He asked himself but there was no answer. He stood up and looked up to the dark sky through the window.

"Reborn… I know you're awake," he said as his intuition was deemed correct when his tutor sat up.

"What do you want, dame-Tsuna? It's in the middle of the night…" Reborn answered lazily. Tsuna raised his eyebrow; he was expecting his tutor to already know what he was thinking.

"Hmph. Don't look at me like that. Just spit it out already," the other casually said.

Tsuna then shrugged and turned his gaze back outside though his attention was to the baby hitman, "Do you know what the Ninth's reason is as to why he made me his heir?"

"Because you have the Vongola blood,"

"Not that… I already knew that,"

"…"

"I know I'm not the only person with the Vongola blood so why did he choose me? I'm nothing but a no-good person. I'm sure there's someone out there with a better standing and much more talented that has more potential in leading than me,"

"Stop asking stupid questions like that. The Ninth wouldn't make you his heir if he knows you're not capable of the position,"

"…"

"..."

"What about you, Reborn? Do you think I could do it?"

"You really are an idiot," Reborn smirked and went back in his sleeping position, "Why do you think I'm here, huh? You think I'm just here for show… Think, will you!"

"…"

"And besides… If I knew you aren't capable to be a boss, then I wouldn't be here regardless of the Ninth's order,"

His eyes widened in surprise. He was going to ask again but he stopped when he saw his tutor is already asleep. Then, he smiled and fixed his tutor's blanket and went to bed himself before muttering a silent good night.

* * *

A/N: I know this chapter is short but I promise the next chapter is longer. Please R&R.


	2. Chapter 2

(The numerous Japanese lines on this chapter have been edited out that several readers have been complaining about. I didn't change anything else other than that, so it's pretty much the same only the Japanese words have been deleted except those selective words that I know won't be much bother from any of you. I hope this would elevate your convenience in reading. ^^)

A/N: Yay! I've finally finished the second chapter… Banzai! And as promised, this chapter is longer than the last chapter. Please R&R.

* * *

_Thug!_

Tsuna woke up as he felt the aftermath of falling face-flat to the ground.

"I-Itai!" he rubbed his nose, hoping to ease the pain. (1) He grimaced as he thought of the only person that will hit him with a ten-ton hammer as a wake-up call-

"Reborn!"

"Ciaossu!" his tutor greeted as Leon morphed back to being a chameleon.

Tsuna stood up carefully, examining himself if he had any broken or bruise in his body. As his judgment had told him that he's fine, he stood straight up and glanced at the clock.

_I'm awake as early as 6 on a Sunday… great,_ he said sarcastically in his mind.

"Stop complaining, dame-Tsuna. A boss must always wake up early even at weekends," Reborn said with an evil smirk.

"You always say that," Tsuna walked off to the bathroom with a yawn.

"Hurry up… You've got a guest waiting for you,"

"Really? Who?"

When he looked back, but his tutor was already gone, leaving a slightly opened door. _It's going to be another crazy day. I just hope I'd survive the day with only a few bruises,_ he sighed and went on with his morning routines.

He jogged down the stairs and into their dining room. As he reached the room, a familiar Italian blonde greeted him with a messy plate.

"Good morning, Dino-san," he said with a tired expression.

"Hey there, Tsuna!" the blonde grinned.

"What're you doing here this early, Dino-san?" he asked and looked around. He noticed that it was only he, Dino and his mother were there, "Where's everyone? Even Reborn's not around. I thought he was here."

"Ah, Tsu-kun. Lambo-chan and I-pin-chan went to Haru-chan's house remember. They went for the sleepover with Kyoko-chan, Hana-chan and Chrome-chan yesterday," Nana answered while putting his meal on the table.

"Oh, right," he went to the table as he reminisced on what happened the day before.

"_I-pin-chan… do you want to come with us for a sleepover?" Kyoko said as she crouched down to reach the Chinese girl's eye level._

"_Tch. Kyoko… Why should we also invite children?" Hana spatted._

"_Hana, don't be rude. The more, the merrier, ne?" Kyoko smiled then turned her attention back to I-pin, "Chrome-chan will be there too."_

_The said person shyly went inside with her trident in hand._

"_Lambo-san wants to come, too!" Lambo went running to Kyoko._

"_No, Lambo! You're not a girl so you can't come," Tsuna said._

"_But Lambo-san will be good!" Lambo pouted._

"_It's okay, Tsuna-kun. Lambo-chan could come too," Kyoko picked up the two kids in her hands._

"_Yay!" Lambo and I-pin said in unison._

"_Great the stupid annoying cow is going with us as well," Hana said with a scowl, "Maybe I shouldn't come along."_

"_Don't worry, Hana. We'll take care of Lambo-chan and I-pin-chan so you don't have to worry about them," Kyoko smiled. Hana only answered a 'tch' as they left._

"_See yah, Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko waved and Chrome gave him a small nod._

He sighed, _Well at least it's not noisy last night and probably even today._

Tsuna shrugged then took the sausage to his mouth. He was about to take the other sausage when it was suddenly taken by someone else.

"Mou! Reborn… That was mine!" he exclaimed as the said person chewed his sausage, "Oh, what am I saying? I should be used to this already."

"Dino-san… You still haven't told me why you're here so early in the morning," Tsuna turned to his guest.

In an instant, Dino got serious and narrowed his eyes, "I need to talk to you about something."

"W-What is it?"

"Let's go outside,"

"Alright," he nodded and went with Dino to their foyer, "Okaa-san. Me and Dino-san will just be going outside for awhile." (2)

"Take care!" Nana waved from the kitchen door.

Reborn jumped up to Tsuna's shoulder as they went outside. He let Dino walk around with him behind, waiting for the reply.

They stopped in the park. Dino sat on a bench where there are less people. Tsuna only stood up with his hands on his jacket's pockets while Reborn jumped down to sit on the bench beside Dino.

"I went here on Japan for some business and I've heard a few rumors that are really disturbing," Dino said in an unreadable face.

"So, you already heard," Reborn said under the brim of his fedora.

"What is it?" Tsuna asked getting tensed.

"So, is it true, Reborn?" Dino asked with pleading eyes.

"Ah," Reborn nodded without looking at anyone, "Ninth have already warned me about it."

"About what?" he asked once more, inquiring for details.

Dino sighed and settled himself before looking at Tsuna in the eyes, "There have been rumors going around that there's a group of people killing Mafioso all over the world. There's already hundreds that have been killed by that group and they've also wiped out two families in Europe in two nights with the addition of three families in Asia two days after."

"What?" Tsuna's eyes widened in surprise. Then, he heard a phone ring. Leon morphed into a phone and Reborn answered. There was a deafening silence that grew between them as if there were no other people there but them.

"Make that four… the Tomoaki Yakuza in the Kanto region has just been found annihilated," Reborn added with a serious tone.

"Kanto? Here in Japan?" he exclaimed.

"Ah," Reborn nodded, "The Ninth wants you to be careful. They might target you or one of your famiglia."

"B-But I told you before… I'm not going to be a Mafia Boss and my friends aren't going to be involved either," Tsuna clenched his fist into a ball and closed his eyes in irritation.

"Tsuna," Dino spoke with dismay in his tone, "You do realize that after the Ring Conflict that happened between you and Xanxus, you and your friends have already been involved. You can't turn your back now. Just like the fight that happened then… you won't be able to reason out to the enemy and expect them to listen to you. You can't deny it anymore, Tsuna."

"But…" he mumbled.

"Tsuna…" Reborn cut him off, "Don't tell me that you didn't have a choice back then, because there was a choice. You could have said no and left them, leading your life to running and hiding… But you didn't."

"But they could have killed my friends if I did ran away," he objected, trying to reason out desperately.

"Hmph. You could always find new friends," Reborn jumped down the bench, turning away from him, "You always fought with your life in the line. Life is irreplaceable. So why did you fight? Your friends… Yamamoto, Gokudera, Ryohei… even Chrome, Hibari and Lambo… they decided to fight themselves. No one dictated them to do so. They also have a choice to leave and run away. But they didn't. They have become part of the Famiglia… your Famiglia. They're now Vongola guardians and you've become the rightful heir when you won against Xanxus."

Reborn then left with an unreadable expression. Tsuna sat down on the bench with a hand covering his eyes.

"You know… I used to say that I won't inherit my father's position back when I was younger," Dino started with a sad smile, "But unlike you, I grew up in the Mafia so I knew what is to come to me if I do accept to be my father's legacy.

"When Reborn arrived at the mansion, I refused it just like you. However, when I saw my friend being harassed by a group of thugs… I-I felt like I wanted to do something about it. I was weak and I thought if I can't protect one person how could I protect the whole Famiglia? But I can't just stand there and watch a friend or my family to get beaten up. I want to protect them. I want to be strong.

"But I can't just step up and protect them without any authority… and that authority is being given to me by my father," Dino looked at his hands and curled them to a ball. Then, he sighed and uncurled his fingers, "So right then at that moment I decided that I would be their boss. I will do my best to protect them no matter what. A boss should be the source of the Famiglia's strength and at the same time, his strength must be taken from the Famiglia as well. If I see them suffer within the leadership of others, I will regret it. So, I took matters into my own hands and I shall do my very best to become a befitting boss."

"Dino-san," he called in a soft voice as the sky got dark and cloudy.

"You're the same, aren't you?" Dino looked at him with a sincere look, "I know you are. You want to protect them too. If you'd let anyone else take Vongola, will you be assured that that person would be able to protect and care for the family like you do? Won't you regret if they die and you can't do anything about it?"

"I…"

Dino waited for his answer but his voice seemed to have left him, his mind went blank and his body wouldn't move. All he did was stare.

Dino stood up and his expression softened, "Think about it… And… be careful… I'll see you around, little brother."

Tsuna was left there with eyes wide open. His surroundings began to get silent as people had already disappeared.

He doesn't want to agree with what Reborn and Dino have said but it is the truth. He felt the same determination of protecting everyone when he fought Xanxus and Byakuran.

_But I'll only lead them to their deaths_, he thought as tiny droplets of cold liquid fell from the sky. The surroundings became gray and silent. Only the sound of the rain could be heard. He could feel the cold tear-like liquid on his skin. His hair had water dripping down to his face and neck. His clothes were cold and wet. Liquid rolled down his cheeks and dropped down to the ground like crystals breaking into pieces.

He lifted his hand to his forehead and looked up to the dark sky. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He ran his fingers through his wet hair then shielded his eyes with his hand raised above.

* * *

"Ne… Where's Tsuna-kun?" Kyoko worriedly asked while looking at the downpour from the window.

"Tsu-kun went out with Dino-kun and Reborn-kun a little while before you and Haru-chan returned I-pin-chan and Lambo-kun here," Nana answered as she placed a cup of tea on the table. Kyoko mouthed a thank you and drank the tea.

"We should go look for Juudaime!" Gokudera scowled and stood up from his seat, "Reborn-san has already returned just before the rain started and that's almost two hours now! What did Bucking Horse did to Juudaime?" (3)

"Maa~ Maa~ Let's be calm," Yamamoto waved his hand.

Even with that said, they still felt worried for their friend.

_Tsuna-kun… Where are you?_ She said in her mind.

* * *

_Maybe I went too hard on him. After all, he still is a child,_ Reborn sat down silently on the coach while drinking his espresso.

_R I I I I I I I I I I I N G ! ! !_

_Hmm…? Who could this be?_ Reborn took Leon his little hands as Leon morphed into a phone.

"Hello?" he said, waiting for the caller to speak.

"_Reborn…"_ said the other line.

"Dino,"

"_Don't you think that was a bit too harsh, Reborn? I mean, telling him that he should have left and ran away from his friends and let them die…? You know he can't do that,"_

"…."

"_He's not that kind of person,"_

"Hmph. He needs that. And don't question my method of teaching him,"

"_Ah…"_ he heard the other line laugh, _"Sorry about that."_

"Hmph," Reborn replied. He was going to drop the call when his student started to talk.

"_Oh yeah… Is Tsuna there already?"_

"No. Why?"

"_That's weird. I left him over an hour ago."_

"…"

"_Reborn… Do you think?"_

Before Dino could mutter another word, Reborn called him in, "No… He's fine. I've checked the whole town this morning and there are no suspicious people roaming around. Anyway, I should go." With that, he dropped the call and Leon shifted back to being a chameleon.

* * *

"Dino said he left Tsuna alone in the park over an hour ago," he said and cleared his throat, "He should probably be on his way back now."

"Hahi! Tsuna-kun must be soaked in the rain now," Haru said and alerted everyone.

"Ossu! Let's make an EXTREME search for SAWADA!" Ryohei added.

Everyone else agreed to this and got to their feet. However, when they were about to go, they heard a familiar voice coming from the door.

"Tadaima," (4)

Somehow, they noticed the odd tone on that voice. They all went to the door and found a very wet Tsuna. They all noticed the depressed aura around their friend and the unusual unreadable expression on his face.

"Hahi! Tsuna-kun's here now," Haru squeaked, breaking the silence around the room.

"Tsu-kun! Did you run on the rain?" Nana took a towel and placed it on her son's head, "Go get changed. I'll go get something for you to drink."

As Nana left to the kitchen, Tsuna made his way to the stairs as if not noticing anyone else at all.

"Tsuna-kun, is there something wrong?" Kyoko asked worriedly.

Tsuna stopped on the middle of the stairs before continuing his way.

"Juudaime-" Gokudera was going to follow him when Reborn stopped him.

"Leave him alone… at least for now," Reborn said with a stern face.

"Did something EXTREME happened?" Ryohei asked.

Reborn turned around and went to sit on the living room.

"He needs to think about something," was his only reply and fell silent again.

"Are you sure its alright to leave him alone like this, baby?" the baseball jock asked but the person in askance did not answer.

"What the heck did that Bucking Horse do to Juudaime?" Gokudera growled, "I swear I'm going to blow him up once I see him!"

Kyoko looked at the direction of Tsuna's room, hoping he's fine. She's worried about him and so did everyone else.

"It's fine…" Nana started with a smile on her face, "I know you're all worried about Tsu-kun and so am I. Though I don't know exactly what's going on, I'm sure he'll be fine. Just give him some time alone and if he's still the same in a few days, we'll always be there to make him feel alright. That's why… It's gonna be fine."

Everyone's mood slowly lifted and had determined looks on their faces.

_Yes, it'll definitely fine,_ Kyoko repeated to herself.

* * *

A/N: Ne~ Please tell me if its too overly dramatic… XD

1 Itai- ouch

2 Okaa-san- Mother/ Mom

3 Juudaime- Tenth

4 Tadaima- I'm home


	3. Chapter 3

(The numerous Japanese lines on this chapter have been edited out that several readers have been complaining about. I didn't change anything else other than that, so it's pretty much the same only the Japanese words have been deleted except those selective words that I know won't be much bother from any of you. I hope this would elevate your convenience in reading. ^^)

A/N: **Minna-sama, Arigatou**! Thank you so much for all that read my fic (wipes off fake tears)! I'm so happy to know that someone actually reads this…

Anyway, thank you **doremishine itsuko**, **kirino tsuki**, **skymori** and **valk** for making my fic part of your favorite list. I love you guyz! Muack!

**Doremishine itsuko**- Sorry I forgot to mention that the Shimon family will appear in later chapters because I still don't have their famiglia's full info…. So no Enma-kun yet… (Pouts)… though I really like that cute emo boy… So once I have the information I need and I found the right time for them to appear in this fic… tadadadan… Enma-kun appears… tee hee

**Skymori**- lol.. I was thinking the same thing about Dino giving Tsuna a push when I was writing that chapter… and thanks for the support XD

**ZiaLiaLis- **lol… sorry about those… but I already edited the last chapter…lol

…Gosh… I'm making Tsuna so emo… but its needed for my story to work…

Hibari's going to be in this chapter. _Kamikorosu!_

Shouichi Irie is here too… XD… Please R&R.

* * *

The following day, Tsuna woke up early on his own. He looked around for his tutor, but he was nowhere in sight.

_Maybe it's better this way;_ he thought and readied himself for school. He took a bath, changed into his uniform and took his bag. He went downstairs and looked at the clock.

_I think I'd be at school early today;_ he greeted his mother and ate his breakfast quietly before heading out. But not far away to his destination, a certain teen with a messy maroon hair and big round glasses caught his eye.

_Irie-san?_ He recognized the teen however he wasn't alone. There were two high school students bullying the said person.

_What the?_ his mind screamed in alarm. He searched for his pills and gloves but he only found the latter. He cursed in his mind while trying to think of ways to help his friend, _Mou! I can't just stand here. I have to do something. But what?_

_..._

_I have to calm down first,_ he breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. He did that a few times so he could settle down his emotions, _I can't just rash in there, but I can't just stand here and watch as well._

He bit his lower lip before marching his way to the group, _I've faced Mukuro… Xanxus… Byakuran and other enemies before but I did that in my Dying-Will-Mode or the Hyper-will-mode. So now what should I do?_

"You should thank us that we're taking your lunch money… at least with that, it won't be useless," said the taller bully in a tone that disgusts and angers him.

"Just give it to us now!" the other spitted to the ground before tightening his grip to the boy's shirt.

"Please stop," the poor teen plead.

"Hmm…? What's that? You're disobeying us now?" the taller guy said with a mocking face.

"Oi… You should leave Irie-san alone," Tsuna said in a cool voice which surprised the three as well as him.

"Tch. What are you gonna do little boy? Make us laugh to death?" the two bullies laughed at the other's statement while turning their get-lost-or-I'll-beat-you-up look on him.

_Darn it…! Where's Reborn when you need him?_ He clenched his fist into a ball.

"Scram brat!" one of them said and punched Irie's gut.

"Maro… I'll take care of this other brat. You can just sit there and relax. We're going to have a bonus here," the taller guy said while making a cracking sound out of his fists.

"Tch. Just do it fast," the guy called Maro answered.

"Run… just leave me alone," Irie coughed as he limply tried to stand straight.

"Be quiet squirt. My friend, Izumi, would take care of that pest while you should just stay here and be quiet," Maro smiled cruelly and gave Irie another punch on his side.

Irie fell unconscious to the ground. Tsuna clenched his fists even more. He tried so hard to suppress his anger.

"What's wrong, brat? Feeling scared already…?" Izumi pouted before laughed mockingly at him.

"Hurry up, Izumi," Maro leaned on the wall while lighting a cigarette on his mouth.

"Fine," Izumi said and turned his attention back to Tsuna, "Stay still."

Tsuna was taking a glance at Irie when Izumi have punched him on his jaw. He was sent a meter away by his opponent. Having already received more vital damage from Reborn before that punch didn't take much of an effect on him.

He straightened himself and rubbed his jaw.

_Damn it! I should concentrate more or else there'll be two of us in the dumpsters._ His opponent grinned at him and aimed another punch but this time around he evaded it with the help of his intuition. However, once he evaded, Izumi have gotten his other fist onto his side, making him drop his bag.

_Alright… calm down and observe his movement. Though my latter fights were all in my hyper-will-mode, I was still the one who fought and no one else,_ Tsuna looked at his opponent with determined eyes and made Izumi flinch in awhile. Soon enough, Izumi's body moved to land a kick on him. Tsuna grabbed the guy's leg before punching Izumi in the face with his free hand. Izumi resisted on his grip and tried to punch him. As his intuition instructed him, he let go of Izumi's leg and moved backward to avoid the punch which made his opponent fall out of balance.

_I didn't know I could do that…_ Tsuna blinked and stared at his opponent lying on the ground.

"Oi, Izumi! You're getting yourself beat up by a kid," Maro spat as the said person got to his feet and spitted blood out of his mouth.

"What're you talking about, Maro? I was just playing around with the kid," Izumi said.

_There's no way I could win by just evading,_ he thought to himself, _but what should I do?_

_Weakness,_ his intuition screamed.

_That's right,_ he smiled inwardly before waiting patiently for his opponent's next attack.

Izumi charged him with a punch. He simply avoided it as if he was a skilled fighter while glancing at his opponent's overly long-sized legs. He smirked. This made Izumi get pissed and moved for a right hook. Tsuna have seen this and ducked. While at it, he kicked the side of Izumi's knees from below and sent Izumi on his knees. Then, he suddenly noticed another's presence on his back. He glanced at his back and sees Maro swinging a metal pole to his head. He barely dodged this.

"Dirty bastards," he said underneath his breath. He gritted his teeth as Maro and Izumi have teamed up on him.

The two circled on him. Tsuna kept glancing on them simultaneously so he could see if any of them makes a move for an attack. Then, Izumi stopped on his track and motioned yet another punch on him. He evaded this but this gave Maro a chance to hit him from behind.

Tsuna coughed blood as he knelt on the ground. Maro was going to give him another blow when he heard a thud from behind Maro.

"What the hell-" Izumi's eyes widened in surprise and anger. Maro fell to the ground and a certain prefect was revealed holding his tonfas.

"An assault to a Namimori Middle School student must be punished. Kamikorosu (1)," Hibari made his stance and glanced at Tsuna, "Oi, herbivore. Get up. Homeroom class is about to start. If you get there late, kamikorosu."

Tsuna smiled and mouthed a thank you but the prefect only gave him look of annoyance. Tsuna shook his head and wiped the blood out of his mouth as Hibari finished off Izumi. He went to aid the unconscious Irie and lifted him into a piggy back ride.

"I have to get Irie-san to a hospital," he said, indirectly asking permission from Hibari.

"Hmph. Weak herbivores," Hibari said and turned to leave. Tsuna took this as an approval before giving Hibari another thank you. Hibari didn't respond and left him.

He took a glance at the now beat up bullies lying on the ground.

_I can't just leave them like this_, he thought and sighed. He dragged the two in a corner before sighing. He took his bag and Irie's on one hand as the other supported the sleeping body of Irie on his back.

_They'll just wake up later on,_ he told himself as he glanced at the thugs before heading to the direction of the hospital.

* * *

Reborn smirked as he watched his student's retreating back. He was going to shot Tsuna with a Rebuke Bullet when Tsuna first got punched however when he saw the determined look on his face he stopped. He planned to just observe in a moment to know what his student will do then shot him with the bullet when he's down on the ground… but to his surprise, Tsuna fought. For the first time without any outside help. He felt proud for his student's improvement though he wouldn't admit it to anyone.

_Hmph. Finally, he's starting to stop being a wimp,_ he told himself, _But… he still got hit. He still needs to learn more. _

* * *

Tsuna sighed as he got out of the hospital. He waited until he was sure that Irie's alright.

He glanced at this phone's time. Then, he heaved a sigh, _It's nearly the last subject already. Maybe I should just wait until lunch break._ He paused then shook his head, _Everyone's probably worried now, especially after what I did yesterday._

He felt guilty right after he realized how he treated everyone so coldly when he came back to their house the day before.

"…_You can't turn your back now…"_

Tsuna jerked up, remembering Dino's words on him.

"_Don't tell me that you didn't have a choice back then, because there was a choice. You could have said no and left them, leading your life to running and hiding... But you didn't."_

Tsuna shook his head, dismissing his thought aside.

"I have to move now if I want to catch our last subject this morning,"

He made his way to their school. However, instead of going to the front gate, he decided to make his way on the back since the gate should be guarded by prefects. So, he climbed up on the wall and glanced left and right to see if there's anyone around. When he concluded that its clear, he jumped down.

_Thug!_

"Itte (2)," he muttered in a low voice. He fell down on his back, not much to his surprise. Normally, people won't be able to move after awhile with a hard fall like that, however he got used to getting beat up in different ways that this didn't affected him much at all.

Sneaking on the hallways, he made sure that no one sees him. He took a deep breath when he arrived at the door of their classroom before opening it.

Everyone turned their attention to him. All have weird looks on their faces. Tsuna shrugged them off and made his way to his desk, thankful that there was no teacher around to scold him. When he thought everyone will go back to their business, he noticed an awkward silence that was built around the room.

"Juudaime (3)!" Gokudera stood up from his desk, just got out from his latter trance, and went to Tsuna's direction.

"Yoh, Tsuna," Yamamoto grinned, oblivious of the tensed air around them.

"Juudaime, where have you been? I was so worried," Gokudera asked with a worried look his face.

"Ah… Sorry about that, Gokudera-kun… Yamamoto-kun," he started with a smile, "Something came up and I just can't let it pass."

"Is that so? I see," Gokudera nodded, buying his excuse, "I understand, Juudaime."

The room's atmosphere began to lighten up after this comment and his classmate's went back to their held chatters.

"So what was it that came up that you can't let it pass?" Yamamoto pasked, curiousity growing.

"Oh, uh... its was nothing," Tsuna nervously laughed and waved his hands to dismiss the topic, "Ne~ Why is sensei (4) still not here?"

"Dunno," Yamamoto raised both his shoulders, signaling that he really has no idea.

"Yonemura-sensei said they have a faculty meeting Tsuna-kun," Kyoko answered from behind.

"Ah… Kyoko-chan," he said with a nervous smile, "Thanks."

"Your welcome," Kyoko smiled, making his face warm up a bit.

"Wait… If it's our free period right now then why is everyone still here?" he asked curiously.

"The Disciplinary Committee forbid us to," Hana said standing next to Kyoko.

"I see," he muttered in a soft voice.

"Tsuna-kun…" Kyoko called.

"…hmm?"

"Sensei also said that we're going to have a test tomorrow,"

"Eh?"

"Oi, Kyoko," Hana snorted, "Let's get away from these monkeys already. I can't take it anymore."

"Hai," Kyoko nodded with a smile, thinking that Hana's insult was only a joke, "See yah later, Tsuna-kun."

"Ne~ let's go have lunch at the rooftop. I'm sure Hibari-san won't mind it now that it's just a few minutes until lunch," Yamamoto suggested with a goofy grin.

"Shut up, yakyu-baka (5)! I'm the only one who can invite Juudaime," Gokudera scowled.

"Anou sa…. Gokudera-kun, it's fine," Tsuna waved his hand to calm his dynamite expert friend.

"Juudaime," Gokudera said with puppy dog eyes. Tsuna only sweat-dropped over his friend's overrated loyalty.

"Let's g-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, the door of their classroom suddenly opened. Everyone turned their attention to the newly arrival and found the D.C. Chairman walking straight to Tsuna's direction.

His classmates' froze and fell silent. They watched the Chairman made his way to their so-called no-good classmate.

"H-Hibari-san," he gulped with a sweat forming on his forehead, _Masaka(19)… It's about this morning. But I didn't do anything to upset him… right?_

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," Hibari said in his usual monotone.

"Hiii," he squeaked, "W-What is it, Hibari-san?"

"Tch," Hibari motioned to get something. Everyone instantly thought that he's going to take out his tonfas and bite Tsuna to death. Gokudera even got his dynamites ready. However, it never came. The D.C. Chairman only placed something on his desk, "That herbivore you helped… He left his phone lying around."

"Eh?" he asked in surprise, "Irie-san's phone?"

"Hmph," Hibari left their classroom as everyone breathed out that they've been holding.

Tsuna picked up the phone on his desk and flipped it open, _That's right. I wasn't able to find Irie-san's phone on his bag awhile ago that's why I wasn't able to contact his family. I should bring this to him later._

"Irie-san?" Yamamoto asked, "Shouichi Irie-san?"

"Uh-huh… I helped Irie-san this morning. I brought him to the hospital. I was going to call his family but I wasn't able to find his phone," he nodded and took the phone to his pocket.

"That four-eyes! He brought trouble to Juudaime! Must I blow him up?" Gokudera took out his dynamites.

"No, Gokudera-kun," he sighed in relief as he was able to calm his friend down, once more.

"I think the faculty will be having their meeting for most of the day so let's just bring that back to Irie-san," Yamamoto said.

He nodded and got up. The three went out of the classroom and made their way to the hospital. As they entered the room, they found Irie sleeping on the bed. He went his way beside the bed while Gokudera inspected for anything dangerous in the room and Yamamoto just made a goofy smile with both his hands behind his neck.

"The area has been checked, Juudaime. It's safe," Gokudera saluted looking as if a soldier giving his report to his superior.

"Hn…" Irie motioned, slowly waking up.

Tsuna took the phone out and placed it on the bed-side table while Irie finally opened his eyes.

"Careful," he hurriedly went to aid.

"Ariga-" but before Irie could finish his sentence and took a look at him, he screamed as if scared to die.

"Irie-san?" he raised his eyebrow in question.

"Y-You're…! You're that guy with those crazy people!" Irie gasped.

"Eh?" he looked at Irie with a puzzled look.

"Oi! Don't talk to Juudaime like that! Be grateful he wasted his precious time to bring you here," Gokudera grunted.

"Gokudera-kun, you're scaring him," Tsuna hushed his friend as Yamamoto only laughed.

"Wait… You're the one that saved me this morning," Irie went into realization, just being able to remember the event that happened awhile ago.

Tsuna nodded and placed the basket of fruits on the table that they bought before going to the hospital.

"Ah! Sorry! Please forgive me!" Irie bowed his head slightly.

"No, it's nothing," he smiled. Irie turned his attention to his phone," Sorry. I wasn't able to call your family awhile ago because I wasn't able to find it until Hibari-san handed it to me."

"No, its fine," Irie shook his head," But… anou… How did you know my name? I haven't introduced myself yet and I believe we haven't met yet, either."

_Oh no! I forgot about that_, he panicked.

"We met you on the future,"

They turned their attention to the last speaker who's sitting on the chair beside the bed.

"Eek!" Irie squeaked, "My f-future self…? How did that happen?"

"Mou! Reborn! You can't just say things like that," Tsuna said with eyes wide open.

"Shut up, dame-Tsuna," Reborn pointed a gun at him and Irie squeaked. Then, Reborn lowered it with a sigh.

"By the way, you forgot these," Reborn threw the deathperation pills to him. Tsuna mouthed a silent thank you while Irie gave them a confused look.

"You're going to be part of Tsuna's famiglia," Reborn said and pointed his Leon gun to Irie.

"Oi!" Tsuna protested but Reborn ignored him.

"You're going to be a good asset to Tsuna's famiglia plus Tsuna saved you so you owe him," Reborn continued.

Yamamoto laughed, "He's going to play with us, too?"

"It's not a game, yakyu-baka!" Gokudera spat as Yamamoto continued to laugh.

"Famiglia?" Irie finally asked.

"Tsuna is the Tenth generation mafia boss of the Vongola Famiglia," Reborn said, "It's the biggest and most powerful famiglia. The _Mafia bourgeoisie _(6)."

"Reborn! I-" Reborn shut Tsuna up with a sharp look in his eyes.

"Don't tell me you're still saying that," Tsuna fell silent, "Remember what we talked about with Dino."

Tsuna stared at the floor, feeling nothing. He could sense the disappointment in his tutor. He gritted his teeth and shadowed his face with his bangs.

"Juudaime?" "Tsuna?" his friends said in unison, both with worry written all over their face.

Tsuna noticed this and beamed them a fake smile, "I'm fine."

"Irie-san, sorry but… I've got to go. I remembered that I forgot that I have to something to do. I already stored my number on your phone so you could call me if you need something, bye," Tsuna walked out of the room with a glum expression. His two friends hesitantly followed him but he didn't allowed them to. He sped his pace to lose the two. He hid himself on the rooftop of Nami-chu once he got the two out of sight.

He took his usual spot and sat down, leaning against the wall.

"Oi, what are you doing here herbivore?"

Tsuna looked at the Head prefect, who's glaring at him intensely from the other side of the roof.

"Shouldn't you be patrolling the school grounds right now, Hibari-san?" he asked and looked away.

"I'll do what I want," the prefect answered, "Lunch break is over in a minute. You should go to your class now or I'll bite you to death."

"I'll do what I want," Tsuna copied Hibari's answer.

"Hmph. Acting so tough now, herbivore?" Hibari lifted his tonfas and got to his fighting stance, "You're not that bad at fighting this morning. It's good enough to pass my time."

Tsuna didn't answer. He didn't move. He only stared onto space.

Hibari sensed the gloomy atmosphere around him and backed his weapon. He frowned and went to lean on the other side of the wall with his hands crossed on his chest.

"It's not worth my time to be wasted on biting a worthless herbivore to death who won't even run," Hibari said in his usual tone.

"Hibari~ Hibari~" a small canary chirped and landed on the prefect's shoulder. There was a moment of silence between the two.

"Hibari-san… Why did you decided to become a prefect? Or even be the Head of the Disciplinary Committee."Tsuna said, breaking off the silence.

"What kind of question is that, herbivore?" Hibari said without looking at him.

"I don't know," he looked at the ground, not expecting a reply from the said person.

Hibari raised his eyebrow then sighed, "I want to bestow discipline to everyone."

Tsuna looked up to his conversant and saw the raven haired prefect walking to the door.

"I'll bite all the herbivores who'd dare to break the peace. If I won't do it, then no one else would. And being the head prefect gives me the power to do so," Hibari reached for the door knob and turned it open, "You did the same thing twice, didn't you?"

Tsuna's eyes opened wide but the other only smirked.

"Like a worthless herbivore… you'd only fight if you'd feel in danger. You'll only fight if you'll see the enemy coming for you. However, if you fell prey to the enemy, no one else would protect your herd. You won't be able to escape. If you stay only in your so called safe zone, soon enough the enemy will break down those weak fences," Hibari opened the door, "You have a weak fence around your herd. You should build a bigger and better stronghold so the worse won't easily happen."

Hibari paused and looked directly into his eyes.

"Do you want me to become the Vongola boss, Hibari-san?" he asked.

"Why? Do you want to?"

"I… don't know,"

If he was asked the same question a year ago, he'd immediately say no but right now he had no idea.

"It doesn't matter to me if you do become those herbivores' boss. However… you're proven to be capable of protecting them. They already think of you as their boss because they were able to witness your strength. Turn your back at them now and you'll regret it for the rest of your life," Hibari smirked once more, "Take the role, herbivore and take the power to protect them or you'll really regret it."

Hibari then left him.

"Thank you… Hibari," he mumbled in a soft voice. He looked up to the sky, looking at the clouds. Then, he smiled.

* * *

Reborn watched from afar as Tsuna and Hibari talk.

"He may be aloof and cannot be binded… still he's part of the family… assisting from an independent standpoint, "Reborn said with a soft smile under the brim of his fedora. Then, he got serious and gazed at his student, "Tsuna… what will it take for you to stop denying your duty to your family? I know you've already accepted to be their boss somewhere inside you but why do you keep on denying it?"

_R I I I I I I I I I I I N G ! ! !_

Reborn took his Leon phone and answered the caller. Then his eyes widened in surprise, "What. The."

He looked at the phone as the caller ended the call.

* * *

**A/N: **So sorry for making Tsuna so EMOish and is Hibari OOC?

1 Kamikorosu- I'll bite you to death

2 Itte- ouch

3 Juudaime- tenth

4 sensei- teacher

5 yakyu-baka- baseball freak

6 Mafia bourgeoisie- in Italy this refers to the richest and most powerful classes in the mafia


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **…wah! I'm so thankful to everyone who reads my fic…! I'M SO HAPPY! Thank you thank you thank you…! Thank you so much for all that has added this fic to their favorite list and to their story alerts… (bows) Arigatou… You already know who you are so I don't need to mention… (bows again)

**Doremishine itsuko**- whoa! I have fans now? And I never thought anyone would describe that as enchanting… anyway, thanks… ^-^

**Zessei**- ehehehe… I guess, I really did went too far in using those Japanese words (rubs back of the neck). Don't worry I'll use less of that. I really didn't think that it could come out like I was showing off. Sorry about that if anyone thought of it that way… I don't know how much I said this, even in the latter chapters but… Thank you for reading and reviewing!

**Ri-Chan 89**- Yes I did have worked so hard so that Hibari wouldn't sound or act so OOC XD… I'll remember to keep updating as soon as possible (salutes) so please keep on reviewing no matter if it's positive or negative, I'll accept it.

**Reidluver**- really sorry about those… hehehe… I really did overdo it… putting so many random Japanese words... I promise to keep it to minimum… I'll only use those words that everyone already knows in general… ^-^

* * *

Tsuna was about to leave the rooftop and find his friends to apologize for running off like that when Reborn suddenly appeared with a frustrated look on his face.

"R-Reborn?" Tsuna asked, sensing that there must be something wrong.

"Tsuna… the Itokawa-kai and Okada-gumi yakuza have been murdered last night. Even the Yoshioka-kai, the strongest yakuza in the Kanto region, are gone," Reborn spoke in a serious tone, "That makes seven famiglias and another ten free lance hitmen were assaulted in Japan."

"That can't be!"

"It's not just that, the Ninth said that the enemy has been spotted to use flames and weapons from boxes,"

"The box weapons…? But it still shouldn't be out. At least not until for a few more years! How could that have happened?"

"Verde,"

"What?"

"Remember when you defeated Byakuran and Uni died in the future, the Arcobaleno of that time and space and the Arcobaleno here share the same memories and information…

"This may have sped up Verde's creation of the box weapons and have sold it to the black market,"

"Kuso! This can't be happening!"

"Baka! It's already happening,"

"Where are the-"

Reborn suddenly kicked him on the face before he could finish his sentence.

_BOOM!_

An explosive was thrown at them, leaving a part of the rooftop ruined.

"As expected, Arcobaleno-chan! Sugoi!"

A sweet voice giggled in the air.

"Ne~ Ne~ Show me some cool moves, Arcobaleno-chan!" a teenage girl, around the same age as Tsuna's, jumped down from nowhere, smiling so sweetly.

Tsuna narrowed his eyes to have a better look on this girl. She has black hair cropped just below her jaw line with long bangs shadowing her eyes. She wore a white long sleeved bottom-up shirt with a black and red striped tie and skirt. Also, she had black knee-high boots, completing her gothic Japanese school girl look.

_She's definitely eccentric,_ he thought. Then, the wind blew and her eyes were revealed. Her eyes were as red as blood and it shows blood lust and amusement. Though her smiles are sweet, it didn't change the creepy chills she gives him down to his spines.

The girl looked at him with a devious expression when she noticed his gaze, "Eh? Sawada Tsunayoshi-san, the Vongola Juudaime, is this scrawny boy? How pathetic!"

"Who are you?" asked Reborn.

The girl pouted her mouth but laughed maniacally a second after.

* * *

Gokudera and Yamamoto were both looking for their friend. They were worried for their best friend for just running off like that. They looked around town but they couldn't find him. They then decided to go look at their school. So, they hurried their way but then as they reached the school-

_BOOM!_

An explosion was released in the rooftop. They didn't wasted time and went there as fast as they could. On their way, they spotted the D.C. Chairman going ahead of them to the same destination. They raced to the stairs and as they got near the rooftop they could hear a voice laughing like a mad man. And as they finally reached the rooftop, they stopped on the door.

* * *

Tsuna noticed the three familiar faces that had showed up on the door. The girl also took notice of this and stopped laughing.

"Ara~ You three are his guardians, right?" she said and pointed right back at him, "This makes it more convenient so with this I don't have to worry about reintroducing myself… Anyway… Hasegawa Sakura desu! Please to meet you!"

In a flash, Hibari charged right in with his tonfas to the invader. Metals clashed. Sakura have shielded herself with a scythe that's as tall as she is.

"Why are you here?" demanded Reborn but only received a playful grin from the person in askance.

Soon enough, his two other guardians charged in. Yamamoto got the Shigure Kintoki in his hands while Gokudera threw his infamous rocket bombs. Though there were already three attackers, the girl was able to shield from the assaults or evade them in a whim.

Hibari kept on swinging his tonfas at Sakura but she kept her scythe clutched in between them. At some points, Yamamoto and Hibari would get in each others' way since Hibari only wishes to beat his prey. He even have told them off to not to interfere to his fight but the other two weren't even listening to his demands. Gokudera also assisted from a distance throwing constantly some dynamites when he had a chance.

"Hmm…?" Sakura pouted as the three seemed to catch their breaths, "Are you sure you're strong? You can't even catch me. Though I'm not the group's weakest, I'm also not the strongest. So how are you people being any hindrance to us? Ace sure did make a mistake when he said that Vongola Juudaime and his famiglia are strong."

HIbari's pissed. Yamamoto twitched. Reborn was unreadable.

"Teme!" Gokudera groaned, "Don't underestimate us! We still haven't used our real power to you!"

"Then, why don't you?" she paused and asked curiously.

"Because we can't just throw in all our cards in the table without knowing our enemies' capabilities," Tsuna came from behind her in his Hyper-Will-Mode.

A look of shock was shown on her face for awhile. Tsuna took this chance to make a hit on her but she immediately recovered and dodged his assault. Then, she smiled.

"Ne~ Once I take a good look on you… you do look cute... and cool at the same time," she said then squealed,"Kyah~ You're just my type!"

"What. The-" he heard Gokudera said.

"Can I just call you Tsu-kun! Let's go on a date!" she giggled.

"Oi, woman! Don't talk so familiarly to Juudaime!" Gokudera howled but the said person doesn't seem to have paid any attention to him.

"Kamikorosu," Hibari said then attacked but Sakura jumped right pass him and paced to Tsuna. Tsuna readied himself for an attack. As she got near him, she motioned to make a blow at him with her knee. Tsuna easily read this. He stopped her knee from hitting him with one hand while she's on the air.

He thought she was going for another attack with her scythe when she moved it behind her as if to gain momentum. He didn't have any time to evade. He waited for the blow but it didn't come though she kept coming closer. Then, in a fast pace she had moved her arms around him, her knees locked his arms and she inched the distance between them. She did the one thing he didn't expect her to do and so did everyone else. She kissed him.

...

After her quick peck in his lips, she instantly pulled away and jumped right to the fences. He didn't move and went into a trance but got back to his senses when she spoke.

"Ne, I came here because I wanted to meet Vongola Juudaime and his famiglia. To know how you people really are," she said without facing anyone, but it's easy to notice her happy tone, "Ace said we have to take out the yakuza first before coming after you since we're already here at Japan. Anyway, I just couldn't help but wonder about how you people are!"

"What? You came here and attacked Juudaime just for that stupid reason?" Gokudera growled with anger, "How dare you? Such insolence to the Juudaime must not be forgiven!"

"But~ This meeting made me realize that Vongola Juudaime is my true love~" she giggled. Then, she turned around to have one last look at him and jumped to the ground from the building. But before she fell, she spoke, "By the way, that kiss was so sweet Tsu-kun! Until we meet again! Ja ne~"

Hibari immediately left to pursue her when she jumped. They concluded he wanted to bit her to death.

As Hibari left, the other two guardians paused to look at the unmoving Tsuna. His eyes were shadowed and his expression was unreadable.

"Tsuna?"

"Juudaime? Is there something wrong?"

His friends asked worriedly.

"Juudaime, is it because of that kiss from that bitch?"

"Tsuna… I'm sure girls won't mind if your first kiss was already taken,"

His friends continued to blabber about not making such a fuss with the kiss, but Tsuna's mind was on somewhere else that had made him angry.

_Why? Why must they kill? Although they target mafia men, they're still humans. They can't just kill them like that! Why must they do such a terrible thing? _his mind kept on asking questions, it was almost endless until the voice of his tutor caught his attention back.

"Oi, Tsuna," Reborn called.

"Kuso!" he groaned, voicing out his frustration, "More people are going to die. And at a fast pace! Soon enough they'll be here to annihilate us. When this happens, everyone will get involved and many would get hurt!"

"Now then…" Reborn cleared his throat, "What are you gonna do now?"

"I have to get stronger," he answered with great determination, "I can't let anyone get hurt."

"Hmph. And here they thought you were worried about the kiss," Reborn smiled deviously.

"Kiss?" he asked. Then the incident came he flushed furiously in different shades of red, "Hii! Please DON'T EVER MENTION THAT!"

"Maa~ Maa~ its fine, Tsuna. We won't tell anyone about that," Yamamoto said with his goofy smile.

"Thanks," he murmured, still with a small tint of red in his cheeks.

Suddenly, someone bursted out of the door.

"SAWADA! WHAT WAS THAT EXTREME EXPLOSION?" Ryohei jolted with fire in his eyes.

"Onii-san, please slow down," came Kyoko with Hana in tow and a few curious students behind.

"It was nothing," he answered in a soft voice.

"Sawada, how can that be just nothing? That explosion was heard all over the school and you're just gonna say it was nothing! We're not idiots," Hana exclaimed while Kyoko stood beside her silently, expecting for a reason as well.

"Gokudera accidentally fired some fireworks," Reborn said, already in a different set of clothes that Tsuna could remember Reborn used to introduce himself as a 'Mr. Reboyama' beforehand.

The oblivious spectators bought Reborn's statement and dispersed with a few side comments. Hana also left while pulling Kyoko with her.

"Ryohei, stay behind," Reborn said, making it sound more of an order than of a request when the boxer was about to leave.

Ryohei nodded as he finally sensed the serious aura coming from both Tsuna and Reborn. They all have been engulfed by silence.

Tsuna went back to his sitting position beside his bag while the rest took their own spots around the rooftop.

Reborn turned his gaze to Tsuna, signaling him his obligation to explain the situation.

Tsuna took a deep breath before he started with his explanation, "Onii-san… that explosion awhile ago was caused by an explosive and not by fireworks."

"What?" Ryohei roared, "Oi, Octopus-head! BE MORE CAREFUL WITH YOUR EXTREME DYNAMITES!"

"That wasn't me, Lawn-head!" Gokudera returned with a scowl as Tsuna only sighed and continued.

"Yesterday, Dino-san informed me that there were a great number of Mafioso that has been killed for the last few days, two families in Europe, three in Asia and hundreds of hitmen in different areas. And awhile ago, before that girl showed up, Reborn got a call from the Ninth…?"Tsuna looked at his tutor for confirmation and the said person answered him a nod, "It seemed that the same group of people that did those are here in Japan, in the Kanto region to be exact… and three more families were found murdered. The third one was the strongest and infamous yakuza in Kanto."

"As of now, only two have been identified in this group, Hasegawa Sakura, the girl who just attacked, and the person she mentioned, Ace," Reborn added, "And like she said, that group would be aiming for us after they finish in Kanto."

"I'm not sure if they're just really strong or she's just really fast that no one didn't even got a hold of her…" followed Tsuna with grim, "Or she just got lucky that we were caught off guard… I don't know… But either way, I have to get stronger." He beamed with full determination on his eyes, not wavering with any weakness, all he cares about now is to protect everyone that is dear to him.

"Don't worry Juudaime! We're already strong. We were able to defeat the Millefiore in the future so how could these enemies be stronger than us. I'm sure she was just lucky… and besides, we didn't even use our box weapons."

"So did she," Tsuna said, gaining confused looks from the three, "The enemy are also using box and flames."

"That's-"

Tsuna silenced Yamamoto with his sharp eyes that no one has ever seen him use, "We didn't use our weapons and same with her… She said she wasn't the strongest but she isn't the weakest either. If I can't even land even a finger on her then how much more to their strongest ally?"

"You're that anxious to her? You can't even say her name," Reborn teased with a smirk, "So, are you going to make her name a taboo now? Just like how Hibari despises even hearing a certain illusionist's name."

"Stop it, Reborn," Tsuna sighed and ran his fingers on his hair.

"I EXTREMELY DON'T UNDERSTAND A WORD SAWADA SAID!" Ryohei roared.

"Yamamoto-kun and Gokudera-kun, could you two please explain it to Onii-san again?" Tsuna asked as he stood up and took his bag with him. He went to the door and was about to leave when Yamamoto spoke.

"Where are you going?"

"Kokuyo Land," he answered without turning around, "Since Hibari-san is probably still searching for that girl, it'll be long before he'd be in sight so I'll go to someone who stays frequently in one place first."

Tsuna waved his hand then left.

* * *

Yamamoto looked at his friend's retreating back.

"Well, it's a good thing he's thinking now," he heard Reborn said.

"Juudaime!"

Gokudera was going to follow Tsuna when Reborn made him stop.

"I believe Tsuna didn't asked you a request but an order," Reborn said casually.

"Juudaime ordered me," Gokudera said in realization and zoned out, dreaming about how great his boss is, "Juudaime's first real order to me."

"Yeah, it's first alright," Yamamoto agreed.

"And it may also be the last," Reborn said, they were going to ask about it but the person in askance have already disappeared.

"What does Reborn-san means when he said last?" Gokudera asked with a confused face.

"Something's wrong…" he started with a serious tone.

"What do you mean?" Ryohei asked in a surprisingly in a less volume than usual.

"Tsuna's going to Kokuyo alone without any worry at all. Then there's that sharp look he gave me awhile ago… It's the first time he ever did that," Yamamoto answered with a now sad face.

"Ever since the Bucking Horse talked to Juudaime… He hasn't been himself. It was like he was thinking of something all the time,"

"Reborn-san did say Tsuna has something to think about,"

"And at the hospital today… Reborn mentioned something about to remember what they talked about with Cavallone,"

"Oi! Would anyone EXPLAIN WHAT'S GOING ON?" Ryohei shouted with so much energy.

"Alright! Just shut up and listen!" Gokudera scowled.

* * *

Tsuna made his way out of the school, carefully sneaking out of the sight of the patrolling prefects and to other students. As he successfully left the school's premises without getting noticed, he made his way to Kokuyo Land.

On his way, he was put to an abrupt stop in front of the grocery store then, his stomach crumbled. He's hungry.

"I guess, a little snack won't hurt," he said, not talking to anyone in particular. He went inside the store and tried to find something he could eat on the way. While looking around, a familiar voice called him.

"Bos-su,"

He turned around and met Chrome, carrying a bag of sweets on her hands.

"Chrome-chan? What are those sweets for?" he asked while pointing at the chocolate bars and candies.

"I-It's for lunch, Boss," she answered shyly.

"Eh? But that's not healthy for you," he said then sighed when he saw her looked to the ground guiltily. He took the bag on to himself and grasped her petite hands. Then guided her out of the store.

"Anou… Where are we going?" she asked softly.

"To our house… I'm going to have Mamman cook something for us," he said without looking back and continued pulling her until they reached their destination.

"Okaa-san…" he called.

"Ara~ Tsu-kun… Why are you here? Why aren't you at school?"Nana popped her head out from their yard.

"Oh… uh… There's a faculty meeting so it's fine to leave early," he rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously. His mother just mumbled an okay before smiling, "By the way, mom… Could you cook something for me and Chrome-chan? We haven't eaten lunch yet."

Nana looked at Chrome who's shyly hiding behind him before nodding and heading to the kitchen.

"Come on," he gestured for her to enter.

"Uhm… boss," she said then looked at his hand still holding hers.

"Ack!" he instantly let go with a flushed face, "Gomen."

"It's okay," she whispered cutely.

They both went to the dining room and waited silently until his mother has finished cooking.

"Itadakimasu," they both said in unison as Nana left them alone. They silently ate. After such, he went on to business.

"Chrome-chan… I need to talk to you about something," he started.

"What is it, boss?"

He sighed and shadowed his face with his bangs before speaking with a serious tone, "Awhile ago, before I ran into you… we were attacked by a girl named Hasegawa Sakura."

Tsuna looked at his conversant and it seemed that her silence was unlike the usual. His intuition was telling him that it's because of his tone. However, he can't change it or it wouldn't be taken seriously so he continued explaining the same way he had explained it to his friends beforehand.

He took another glance at Chrome and she seems to have caught on to the severeness of the situation.

"Chrome-chan, be careful," he warned.

He then stood up and took the used plates to the sink.

"Yes, thank you, boss," Chrome answered. Then, Nana arrived and the two teens left.

"I'll escort you back to Kokuyo," Tsuna offered but the other just shook her head and took her bag of sweets from his hand.

"Don't worry, boss. I can take care of myself. I've bothered you too much already," Chrome bowed then left.

"Tsuna," said a voice beside him that he recognized to be his tutor's, "As to how you're acting… you act like you're their boss."

Tsuna stood there, stunned to his tutor's statement.

"You ordered Gokudera and Yamamoto to help Ryohei understood things. Then, you left to assure your Mist guardian is well informed… just like how a boss would do to take responsibility over his men's welfare," Reborn paused but continued nonetheless, "You say you don't want to be a boss yet you act like one unconsciously. Are you sure you know what you want?"

"I-I…" before he could arrive at an answer, the baby hitman was already out of sight.

"Do I really know what I want?" he asked himself.

"Tsuna-nii!"

"Oi, Tsuna! The great Lambo-sama is back!"

"Tsuna-nii-san,"

Three familiar children greeted him. He faked a smile to the three. Two of them bought it but the eldest didn't. Fuuta yanked his shirt with a worried expression on his face when the two went inside the house.

"Tsuna-nii… Is there something wrong?" the boy asked.

"Fuuta…"

"You've been so sad these past few days, Tsuna-nii… Everyone's worried about you… Can I do something to help? Do you want me to rank something for you?"

"…"

"Please I want to do something for you. You've helped me a lot before so I want to help you too… so please let me…"

Tsuna stood there while staring down at the boy's sad face. He could see the desperateness to Fuuta's eyes. He can't turn the boy's offer because he knows Fuuta would get hurt. So, he crouched down to Fuuta's eye level then smiled softly.

"Okay… Could you rank me in the most incapable people that will be mafia bosses?" he asked, not giving a very hard request.

Fuuta nodded enthusiastically. The gravity around them begun to drop as the boy started his ranking.

"I hear you, ranking planet…" Fuuta started while looking at the sky in his eyes, "Tsuna-nii's ranking to the most incapable mafia bosses is… none. Your rank is far from the world…"

"I see… I'm so no-good that I'm not even on the list,"

"But Tsuna-nii's rank to people that are capable mafia bosses is 525 out of 1611. And Tsuna-nii's rank to the most caring mafia boss is number 1…"

The gravity started to get back to normal and the objects around them have now dropped down to the ground.

"Tsuna-nii?"

Fuuta's voice brought his attention back. He didn't even notice that he was staring into space.

"Tsuna-nii is a capable boss… Tsuna-nii is the most caring and kindest boss… Tsuna-nii," Fuuta said, "Tsuna-nii isn't no-good. Tsuna-nii is great!"

Tsuna smiled then patted the boy's head, "Thank you, Fuuta," Fuuta grinned wide and Tsuna petted his head.

"Tsu-kun! Fuuta-kun! Come and have some snack!" Nana called with her usual bright smile.

"Hai, Mamman," Fuuta answered and pulled Tsuna's hand, "Tsuna-nii, let's go."

Tsuna smiled and nodded. He let himself got pulled by Fuuta to the house.

_Really… Thank you, Fuuta_ he smiled, _You're such a nice little brother. We may not be blood related but I do treat you as family. And I know you do too._

* * *

"Ace!" Sakura called as she got back to their current base.

"Sakura, where have you been?" a husky voice asked from the shadow.

"I went to Vongola Juudaime," she answered carelessly while sticking her tongue out.

"Haven't I told you not to do such reckless things," the man scolded with a dominating aura around him.

"I'm sorry! But I just can't help it," she said with her hands in a ball on her chest.

Then, another voice hissed from behind her.

"You're so troublesome, Sakura,"

"Shut up, Vin!"

"Ace…"

"I know," the voice that they refer as Ace answered, "Tell everyone that there has been a change of plans… We're having clams next week instead of next month. So they must wrap it up here before the week ends."

"Kyah~ I'm going to see Tsu-kun again! I'm so excited!"

* * *

**A/N**: I'm going to say sorry in advance because I may be able to update late. School has just started here in the Philippines and I have to put my studies first. But don't worry because I'll write in my spare times… I'll update ASAP. Ossu~ I have to work hard!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **(takes a deep breath) Here you go people… my fifth chapter XD… Though I did got a little problem with this chapter and I'm not really sure if anyone would take interest at this particular chapter… because honestly, I'm kinda off the mark when I was writing this. But anyway, again, thanks for everyone that has read and reviewed. I'm grateful (bows)

…Btw, I haven't mentioned this for clarifications and this may result for some readers to stop reading, but here goes… I'm not a yaoi writer. It's not that I'm against it but I just couldn't stop feeling creeped-out when I read, write, or watch two boys… you know… do things that a couple of the opposite sex do. No offense. I don't discriminate but I was just raised by my parents that a couple should be a girl and a boy. Though I don't really do nasty things on those dating with the same sex like insult them or something because I do give respect to them. I mean, this is the 21st century and people are more open-minded to these things and so do I… but the nudging feeling inside me really doesn't go away… So what I'm trying to say is that, this fic has no yaoi though I could give a few hints of yaoi moments for yaoi fans but that's as far as could go… (bows) sorry…

**doremishine itsuko**- hey… I'm not a yaoi writer so I guess the TsunaxEnma pair won't happen… But if it makes you happy I could put of a few moments with those two when Enma and the Shimon Family appears… But for now… XD… please enjoy this chapter

**Ri-Chan 89**- oh, there will be more Reborn nudges and from other people as well before Tsuna becomes the Boss… tee hee… because I do think that it would take a lot of convincing and resolve to build up before an innocent and kind boy, like Tsuna, could become a mafia boss…

…everyone… though I may not be that good at writing… thanks for all your support ^-^

* * *

"Wake up, dame-Tsuna,"

Reborn delivered a hard kick to Tsuna's stomach to wake him up. His student immediately got up and winced on his aching stomach. When Tsuna was going to complain, Reborn dropped four kilograms of weight bands to him.

"What's these for?" Tsuna asked, "And what time is it?" Tsuna looked at the clock on his bedside table and read it, "Hey! It's still four AM!"

"Stop complaining, dame-Tsuna. You're the one who said you want to get stronger. So get up and change into something more convenient in running."

Reborn left after that. Tsuna paused for a minute, "Running?" But he shrugged it off and did as his tutor has told him. Then, he looked at the weight bands on his bed.

"I think he wants me to wear those, too," he told himself then heaved a sigh before wearing the four bands to his wrists and legs.

"Its heavy," he complained as he tried to move around. Then, he remembered his reason why he wanted to be stronger, "I have to get stronger to be able to protect everyone else, I have to do this."

He tried his best to walk silently out of their house, careful not to wake anyone, but the added weight to his body limits his movements.

As he reached outside, he could see Reborn waiting for him, wearing a PE uniform.

"Can you walk with that?" Reborn asked, pertaining to the weight bands.

"Yeah," Tsuna answered. When he thought that the question from his tutor was out of concern, Reborn threw him another set of four kilograms of weight bands.

"Wear that," Reborn ordered then pointed a gun on him.

"Hiii! Alright," Tsuna took the weight bands and wore them. Now, he has eight more kilos of weight added to his. He stepped a foot but the weight restrains his normal movements.

"You'll be running with those every morning from now on, even if we stopped training. But right now, I'll have you run with those all day long for the following days until you're able to run around town within thirty minutes. Then, we'll move on to your next training exercise. Do you understand?"

Tsuna nodded, "Yes." Determination could be seen on his eyes.

Reborn was about to fire him a dying-will-bullet when he realized something.

"I won't fire a bullet on you… You're relying on it too much. I'm not letting you use the pills either. You have to learn to be able to do things without any help from the bullet or the pills. If I'm not there to fire a bullet on you and the pills aren't with you… How will you be able to defend yourself?" Reborn petted Leon on his hands.

"But then… How am I suppo-"

"**Find the answer yourself.** I'm not going to be here all the time. Someday, you'll have to decide things on your own… What are you waiting for? Start running!"

Tsuna squeaked his usual "hiii!" before pacing all over town. It was still too early so there's no one was in sight. After awhile of running, he could already feel the exhaustion running through his body however Reborn didn't let him rest yet. He was forced to continue running even though his body could almost reach its limit. It was already six in the morning when he finished his first run around town. Reborn let him rest and go to his home for breakfast. As soon as he finished eating, Reborn have instructed him to run again.

"This is tiresome," he sighed before continuing with his predicament.

* * *

Gokudera leaned against the wall in front of his boss' house, waiting patiently for the young Decimo to come out.

"Ara~"

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Mamman," he greeted with a bow to his boss' mother. Nana smiled warmly to his gesture.

"Gokudera-kun, if you're waiting for Tsu-kun… I should tell you that he already left with Reborn-kun…" Nana answered.

"Juudaime already left?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes, I heard him saying something about training and running…" Nana said with her finger on her chin as if thinking deeply.

"Eh? Tsuna's training with the baby?" Yamamoto said from behind him.

"Oi! What are you doing here, yakyu-baka?" he grumbled.

"I'm here to pick up Tsuna… I didn't know he already left," the baseball fanatic said with a bit of disappointment in his tone.

"Tch. Juudaime doesn't need you to pick him up,"

"Then, why are you here?"

"Because I'm his right-hand-man!"

"Tsu-kun's friends are quite enthusiastic," Nana giggled and left them there arguing, mostly Gokudera was the one who kept on firing up the argument while the other only gave his carefree side-comments.

"If Juudaime's training hard, then I should too!" Gokudera beamed with resolve.

"Tsuuunnnaaa-kuuunnn…!" a bubbly voice arrived, annoying the Italian dynamite expert, "Hahi! Where's Tsuna-kun?"

"Tsuna went off with Reborn and we don't know where he is," Yamamoto replied, "Mamman said that Tsuna mentioned something about training and running."

"Hahi? Maybe Tsuna-kun is running across Japan. Then, he'll stop in the end of the Japan and promise himself to marry me… Kyah~ Tsuna-kun's so romantic!" Haru squealed with dreamy eyes.

"Shut up, woman! Why did you even think that Juudaime will marry you? Just be thankful that Juudaime's kind enough to make you stick around for so long," Gokudera said with his fist up high, "If I were him, I could have drove you away already."

"Hahi?" she pouted, "Hmph. You just don't know how Tsuna-kun loves me so much."

"Maa~ Maa~ let's all calm down," Yamamoto tried to make the two stop bickering but it took a few more insults before the two finally stopped. The two faced the opposite direction with an annoyed face.

"So it's really just Tsuna who could keep everyone behave so easily," Yamamoto scratched the back of his head before smiling.

* * *

"I'm… home…" Tsuna announced tiredly as he entered the front door.

"Ah… Tsu-kun! Welcome home," Nana greeted, "Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun came here this morning after you left and also after school…"

"Huh? Really?" he asked, staggered.

"Yes," she answered, "Even Kyoko-chan, Ryohei-kun and Haru-chan were here awhile ago. I think they're worried about you."

_That's right. I haven't told them about my training_, he lowered his head as realization struck him. He sighed and made his way to his room. He went for a shower and changed his clothing. Nana then called him for dinner. He made his way to the dining table and started digging his meal.

"Tsuna-nii's really hungry, " he heard Fuuta said as he paused on chewing his food. He looked around and noticed how everyone gaped on him with the exception of Bianchi who raised her eyebrow and Reborn who continued eating. Then, he turned his sight to all the plates he has eaten from. It was more than twice the amount he usually eats. But he couldn't help it. He was beyond hungry, he was starving from all the running he did all day.

"Just eat up Tsu-kun. There's still more food so don't hold back," Nana insisted and placed a new plate full in front of him. He sheepishly took the plate and continued eating.

"Kyah~ My Tsu-kun's growing up so fast. I can still remember how small he was when he was still a kid and now… look at you… you're all grown up~" Nana kept on day-dreaming and told stories of his childhood but Tsuna gave no attention to this.

When he finished eating, he went directly to bed and at the moment he laid down, he fell asleep immediately.

* * *

"Hmph. You still have lots to go through," Reborn said as he watched his student sleep soundly on bed.

* * *

**A/N:** Ieeeee! This chapter is shorter than the others (except the first chapter)… (sob) (sob) Studying for school really takes a lot of time especially in college… (sob) But I'll do my best to find more time in writing and not let it burden my studies… (shining with the determination) Ossu! I will do my best!

Please review ^-^


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Hey yah, everyone...! Thanks again for all who read and have reviewed... ARIGATO!

...So here's my sixth chapter ^-^

...(sigh) I finally were able to write it...

...kyah~ I'm so excited on your reviews XD

...enjoy reading ^-^

* * *

It's the end of the third day of his training and Tsuna's really tired. Reborn let him rest for a few minutes to restore his energy with his last run of the day. So, he gathered up all his energy for this. His tutor's reason was so they could get the result of his training and so, they'd know how he has improved.

He panted and gasped for air as he waited for his tutor's response.

"Twenty minutes," Reborn said with an it's-not-so-bad tone, "Better than the first time. It has a one-hour and forty minute difference."

Tsuna sighed in relief as he collapsed in his knees.

"Can I take these off now?" he asked and pointed the weight bands.

"No," Reborn answered coolly, "In fact, I'll increase the weight tomorrow."

"Eh?" he looked at his tutor while the baby hitman only smirked evilly.

"You should rest well tonight. We'll start out next training exercise after your morning run," Reborn immediately left him there.

He sighed. He was going to proceed to their house when he decided to take a walk. He walked around with nowhere in particular until he found himself in the middle of the bridge where he rescued Haru previously.

He smiled in that memory with a soft expression on his face. Then, he paused as he noticed the setting sun in front of him. He leaned down on the rail of the bridge and watched as the rays of the sun flowed through everything, enveloping both the land and the sky by an orange hue. He lifted one hand in front of him and observed how it blocked the light to pass through.

He frowned as he took back his hand and his ring got in his view.

_I refuse to be part of the mafia and I refuse to let my friends take part in it as well. And this ring signifies my inheritance and even though I refuse to accept it… why am I wearing it in my finger now?_ He closed his eyes in confusion, _is this my acceptance?_

"Juudaime!' a familiar voice called from a distance, startling him for a second before turning to the said person with a warm smile.

"Gokudera-kun,"

His self-proclaimed right-hand-man ran to him with a baseball fanatic that he knows very well.

"Yo!" "Juudaime…!"

The two greeted in unison. Yamamoto has his usual cheerful smile while Gokudera have a quite overwhelming happiness sparkling around him.

"Hey, you two," he greeted back, glad to see his two best friends.

"Juudaime, we heard that you're training. What kind of training did Reborn-san gave you? It must be really amazing," Gokudera beamed with admiration.

"Yeah, it must be really amazing if I wasn't the one running around town all day long with eight kilos added to my weight," he sighed at his sarcastic remark.

"That's so great, Juudaime!" Gokudera praised, not paying any attention at his sarcasm while Yamamoto laughed at his comment and patted his shoulder.

"Maa~ Maa~ I bet you enjoyed it anyway," Yamamoto said, making it sound light. He sweat dropped over his friend's comment but nonetheless smiled at the two.

"Juudaime," Gokudera called, sound a bit more serious this time around, "You don't have to work so hard for us. We could take care of ourselves. You can lean on us, too."

"There's no need for you to push yourself too hard for us," Yamamoto added with certainty on his voice, "Remember that you're not alone, we're right beside you."

"You guys…" he smiled softly at the two, feeling touched by what his friends' said.

"…_A boss should be the source of the Famiglia's strength and at the same time, his strength must be taken from the Famiglia as well…"_

He remembered Dino's words to him. He smiled but then shook his head in confusion. _A-Am I actually accepting myself as a Boss?_ he though then a call from a silver-haired teen tore him off from his thoughts then a question suddenly popped up in his head as he saw the bomber.

"G-Gokudera-kun… Yamamoto-kun… may I ask you something?" he lowered his head as his joyous aura subsided.

"Of course, Juudaime…! Anything for you," Gokudera said with anticipation as Yamamoto only grinned.

"…What will you do if I… if I weren't to be the Tenth Vongola Boss?" he asked and closed his eyes, not wanting to hear their response despite his questioning.

"Simple," he heard Yamamoto replied, "I just have to swing the bat. Whatever kind of pitch comes… I just have to hit it hard to get a homerun then I'll celebrate it together with our team."

Tsuna opened his eyes and looked at the baseball jock, stunned.

"But what will you do if it was a foul ball?" he asked and the other just laughed.

"Then, I'll just have to try it again the next time I bat. And if I wasn't able to do it in that game then, I'll practice hard for the next game until I succeed. And of course, I'll be with my team so whether we won or lose we still have each other, and be happy and enjoy the game," Yamamoto grinned wider, lifting his gloomy feeling. Then, his raven-haired friend tapped the unmoving figure of Gokudera, "Right, Gokudera?"

Tsuna's depression reverted back as he waited for the dynamite-expert's reply. He saw his friend open his mouth but nothing came out. And the next thing he knew, the young Mafioso have already run away with confusion in his eyes.

"Gokudera-kun," he muttered, watching his friend's retreating back. His other friend was going to follow the silver-haired teen when he made Yamamoto stop.

"But… Tsuna… Gokudera… he's…" Yamamoto stuttered in panic. It was the first time he ever heard his friend like this but he understood. He wanted to follow Gokudera as well but his intuition had left him at bay for he knows it was right to let Gokudera go.

Yamamoto looked straight at him as he tried to express his battered emotions for his confused friend. Yamamoto seemed to have caught on to this as well and have agreed to him.

"I guess you're right… Maybe he just needs time for himself," Yamamoto said and smiled sadly.

Then, he looked up at the now indigo filled sky turning to black, "I hope I'm right."

* * *

Gokudera suddenly felt an irking feeling on his chest as he observed his Boss' melancholic state. The feeling elevated when he heard his Boss ask him a question he never thought he'd ever encounter.

"What will you do if I…" he waited for his precious Boss, who's being hesitant over his question, to finish, "if I weren't to be the Tenth Vongola Boss?"

He stopped moving from his spot, processing that question on his mind in an unusually slow pace.

He felt blank.

His blank state was cut when he felt a pat on his shoulder. He mentally shook his head and turned to his friends. He wanted to spat at the Baseball freak for touching him but he didn't feel like doing so. Not now that his mind was not processing properly.

He tried to say something but there was nothing his mind could provide him. He could see the desperation for him to answer the question in his Boss' eyes. He couldn't take it. He doesn't know what to do.

He ran away as far as he could, not caring of where his feet would take him. As time has passed, his feet have given up and he fell on his knees with his palms pressed against the ground. He panted heavily.

It was dark around him and he doesn't know where he is. No matter, he doesn't care.

He then sat up straight as he caught onto his breath and had calmed his mind, trying to remember all that just happened.

_I ran away… again…_ his mind screamed as guilt crawled on his mind, _I ran away from Juudaime…_

…

…_how could I do that? Why have I done that? Why must I always result to running? Am I really that much of a coward? I just have to answer a question… but I don't know how to respond._

"…_What will you do if I… if I weren't to be the Tenth Vongola Boss?" _that question kept on running in his mind.

_I came here so I could see who Vongola Decimo (Translation: tenth) is…_ he told himself in his native language,_ I heard how he was of the same age as I am so I came here to see him for myself… If someone of the same age as me could be the Capofamiglia (Translation: Boss) of the Mafia bourgeoisie (the richest and most powerful classes)… the capo di tutti capi (Translation: boss of all bosses) then maybe… just maybe… I could be someone important too… someone that could be acknowledged…_

_As I met Decimo, I was struck in awe… he saved me even though I have tried to killed him… I felt like I was someone important… that's why I swore to be loyal to him and protect him even If I were to die… I never felt that warm and pleasing aura other from my Mother… He welcomed me to his Famiglia even though others have declined… And I just ran away from him…? How could I?_

His eyes widen as he realized something… something that has been there but he never took any notice.

He stood up and ran yet again. He ran as fast as he could, looking for a certain house he was quite familiar with. As soon as he has found it, he didn't waste any time and went to ring the doorbell. He pressed it so many times and was, alas, welcomed by a warm smile from his Boss' mother. But he didn't stop to greet her back and went searching for his Boss. He found his Boss sitting in his room getting ready for bed. Then, Gokudera immediately went to bow in front of him in shame.

"G-Gokud-"

Before his Boss could even say another word any further, he has cut in with an apology.

"Please forgive me for running away from you like that… I was being stupid and I… I'm sorry… It doesn't matter to me if you won't be the Vongola Decimo… I didn't swore loyalty for that… I swore because you were the only one who has deemed me worthy of your presence… for making me feel like I could be someone important and not just some junk. Juudaime will always be Juudaime to me, no matter what happens…"he paused and looked up at his shocked Boss, "_Sei la mia famiglia… sei il mio Capo…"_

"What's that Gokudera-kun?" his boss asked in a confused manner. He didn't realize he has said the most important thing he could say in his native tongue and he has forgotten how his Boss doesn't understand it.

He bowed again, embarrassed at his mistake and repeated his last two phrases while adding a little more to this, "You're my family… You're my Boss… and that will never change. I will stay loyal to you even if you're not Vongola Decimo. I will do my best to be your most loyal subordinate, to be the best Right-Hand Man."

His Boss paused in a moment. Then, he smiled warmly at him.

"Gokudera-kun… you're not just my subordinate or my Right-Hand Man…"

Gokudera felt saddened by his Boss' words. _Is he declining as well… I'm so stupid I shouldn't have run away. And now my only family… has forsaken me…_he thought and had gotten ready to leave but was held when his conversant continued.

"…Gokudera-kun… no, Hayato… you're my friend… my best friend," his Boss' smile widen.

He couldn't help but be happy. He felt honored that his Boss has even treated him as not only but a friend but his best friend. What made him happier is that his Boss has called him in his first name for the first time.

"Juudaime… you've just called me in my first name," he said in astonishment.

"Oh… uh… is that a-alright?" his Boss stuttered while rubbing the back of his neck.

He nodded enthusiastically with so much delight.

"You could call me Tsuna now, too," his Boss suggested but he quickly shook his head.

"No," he answered flatly then reverted back to his usual self, "I cannot do that. I'm not worthy."

His Boss had tried to convince him but he strongly refused until his Boss just sighed in resignation.

"Ara~ Gokudera-kun… why don't you just sleep here tonight. It's already dark," his Boss' mother advised with a smile but he declined and had gone off to his house.

"Thank you for having me… and sorry for intruding like that," he bowed before leaving.

"Ie… Its fine," his Boss said and had waved him goodbye as he left completely.

He walked silently in the dark sky with a smile, _that's right… Juudaime is family…. My family._

* * *

**A/N:** …uuuwwwaaahhh…! Gokudera-kun's pov… kyah~ I hope you enjoyed reading… please review ^-^


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** …wooohhh(wipes off fake sweat)… seventh chapter… I know that I'm not that good at writing but I'm just so thankful to all that has kept on reading this fic of mine… a-ri-ga-to! ^-^

**Disclaimer:** I haven't been doing this for the previous chapters except the first so… KHR does not belong to me; Amano-sensei has all the right with the characters… I only borrowed them to make a fanfic of my own…

* * *

Recap:

"…_Gokudera-kun… no, Hayato… you're my friend… my best friend," his Boss' smile widen._

_He couldn't help but be happy. He felt honored that his Boss has even treated him as not only but a friend but his best friend. What made him happier is that his Boss has called him in his first name for the first time._

"_Juudaime… you've just called me in my first name," he said in astonishment._

"_Oh… uh… is that a-alright?" his Boss stuttered while rubbing the back of his neck._

_He nodded enthusiastically with so much delight._

"_You could call me Tsuna now, too," his Boss suggested but he quickly shook his head._

"_No," he answered flatly then reverted back to his usual self, "I cannot do that. I'm not worthy."_

_His Boss had tried to convince him but he strongly refused until his Boss just sighed in resignation._

"_Ara~ Gokudera-kun… why don't you just sleep here tonight. It's already dark," his Boss' mother advised with a smile but he declined and had gone off to his house._

"_Thank you for having me… and sorry for intruding like that," he bowed before leaving._

"_Ie… Its fine," his Boss said and had waved him goodbye as he left completely._

_He walked silently in the dark sky with a smile, that's right… _Juudaime is family…. My family_._

* * *

Chapter 7

"Oi, dame-Tsuna," Reborn called while looking at his Leon-timer with a bit of disappointment in his tone.

Tsuna leaned on the wall while drinking the water on a bottle that he has carried, and waited for his tutor to continue.

"You've slowed down by 12 minutes from yesterday's time," Reborn commented while Leon shifted back to being a chameleon.

"That's because you added a half more weight of what I've been carrying with me since day one!" he pointed out with a look of disbelief.

Leon morphed into a rifle almost immediately and shot him with a bullet. He could have been caught by it if he didn't accidentally fell down when he had stepped on an empty can.

He sighed in relief as he looked at the bullet hole on the wall beside him.

"Hmph. Your senses and reaction time is slow," Reborn said in an unsatisfied way, "We have to do something about that then…" A familiar look appeared on his tutor's face that he doesn't ever want to see looking at him. Chills crawled down to his spines as the baby hitman smirked and loaded his Leon-rifle.

He gulped heavily and sweated in a fast pace.

"A-Anou… Reborn… y-you don't mean… we're… you're not going to…" Tsuna stuttered in his nervous state while forcing a smile, suggesting it to be some kind of a joke. He gulped once more as Reborn covered his eyes with his fedora and his smirk widened.

"Going to do what, dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked, acting innocently with a fake puppy face, and pointed the rifle to him.

"Oh no," he gasped as he realized his tutor wasn't joking.

"Yes, that's right…" the baby hitman said darkly, "I highly recommend that you should start running."

Tsuna didn't waste time and ran as fast as he could. He would glance back to his tutor every once in awhile if he'd need to dodge any bullets.

He'd jump up, left and right as he ran, trying to keep out of the bullets' way. He grimaced as he imagined his tutor's evil laugh, scaring the heck out of him.

After awhile of running and dodging, he managed to get ahead of his lunatic-of-a-tutor, and hid on a secluded alley. He looked around him like a paranoid rat running away from a cat, while hiding himself on the shadows.

He had kept himself on a dark alley that he could see many escape routes. He leaned against the wall and had made himself almost unnoticeable through its dark side.

Then, in a corner of his eyes, he saw a glint of light flash and a familiar object pointing to his direction. He stepped out of his hiding place, evading a bullet in a whim in the process.

It was like that for a couple of hours, jumping through shadows from alley to alley, keeping himself alert and aware of his surroundings. This routine went over and over until he has arrived on the mountain behind the town.

He carefully strode on the forest, taking every rustling sound in account as if Reborn would suddenly appear there and aim at him with the rifle.

And as he was expecting, he heard a rustling sound from the bushes behind him. He readied himself for the worst that would come out.

* * *

Yamamoto yawned openly as he kept one ear listening to their teacher's lecture. He glanced at the class and stopped to his friends' seat.

_Tsuna's not here today as well,_ he thought while staring bored at the board, _he's really training hard. Even Gokudera seem to have decided to do something to too… I wonder if he's alright now… I haven't talked to any of them after Gokudera ran away. But I guess everything will be fine… but they sure are doing their best... hmm… Maybe I should start training too. But what should I do? What kind of training should I do? And who's going to help me and train me?_

_The baby is out of the question. He's training Tsuna right now… Maybe I should ask Otou-san,_ he frowned at the thought, _Otou-san have already established that he can't teach me anything further considering that I have learned all eight forms of Shigure Soeen Ryu from Otou-san. I've even already have added a few new forms to it._

He sighed, _Should I make another form?_

He leaned his back to his chair and tapped the point of his pen to a paper. _No… I don't think I could form something new just out of the blue. But it's possible if I could get someone to fight against… Squalo? No, he's in Italy… probably busy with something, too. I certainly can't ask Gokudera and Tsuna. They're occupied. Hibari? I can't ask him that… Maybe I could ask Sasagawa-sempai… I wonder if he'll accept._

He kept on tapping his pen while searching for more names in his mind in case Ryohei isn't available.

* * *

Tsuna slumped down his shoulders to his side and released a disappointed sigh as he watched a wild rabbit come out of the bushes.

_This is too troubles-_

A pointed object pressed on his back.

"Never put your guard down especially if you're aware that you're being hunted," Reborn said as he gave out a grunt, "Complaining now, aren't we?"

"Mou! We've been doing this for hours now and I haven't eaten breakfast yet!" he exclaimed, getting annoyed but all that frustration were drained when his stomach grumbled.

"Hmph. Fine," Reborn lowered his rifle and carried Leon to his fedora, "But a hitman will not wait for his target to eat and get more energy to escape."

"Whatever," he said in a low voice, hoping he was not heard.

"What was that, dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked dangerously.

"N-Nothing," he quickly responded and jogged his way back home, _I can't believe my endurance and stamina increased for the past three days. Normally I've already passed out in exhaustion in a lot shorter period of time. And this sort of thing could only happen whenever I'm in my Dying-Will-Mode or in the Hyper-Will-Mode…_

He stared ahead, making sure he goes the right way to his home. As he reached his destination, he went to his room. He went inside alone as Reborn seemed to have left off to somewhere.

_During my training for the ring conflict, Reborn mentioned that the First have gone through that same training so he could go into Hyper-Will-Mode on his own… But I wasn't able to do that even though I've gone through it… But why?_

He ran his fingers through his hair and took a towel. He went inside his bathroom and went to undress himself for a shower.

"Ahh…" he relaxed his shoulders in his side as hot water draped down on his body, _Maybe I should try understanding things first._

He looked up and closed his eyes, letting his face get hit by the now warm water.

_First and foremost, a flame is a person's condensed life energy. It could be one of the seven flames or a person may also have more than one of which, like Hayato._

_Sky, storm, rain, sun, lightning, cloud and mist… Each has their own characteristics. But a flame could still vary from each other even if it's of the same attributes, depending on its holder. Like mine and Xanxus' sky flames._

_A sky flame is harmony like mine but Xanxus' flame is of… wrath,_ he sighed and dumped a towel to his wet figure as he finished his shower. He then took his gaze to his rings (**A/N:** I've been pointing this so many times now, haven't I?) on his table then frowned,_ A flame could be lit by the holder's determination, will or focus… Whichever works for the individual. But that doesn't answer my question._

He got himself dressed and took his rings to his hand and called out his box animal.

"Natsu," he murmured with a soft smile. The said individual appeared to his sight and played with his hands, He walked out if his room and into their dining room (**A/N:** I've been taking a lot of the scenes here whenever his at home… sigh… but this time it's not much of a scene really).

He ate in silence as the three kids in their house went playing out to their yard so he was eating alone. While doing so, he observed his little friend's body ooze with flames. Then, he looked at his tutor's seat on the table, _With the Dying-Will-Bullet, my body limiters are being removed externally while with the Rebuke bullet, it awakens or removes my body limiters internally (__**A/N:**__ Please correct me if I'm wrong at this)…_

He heaved another sigh and took his used plate to the sink, _so now… how can I remove these body limiters whenever I want?_

Then, he heard a buzzing sound from the stove.

"Tsu-kun! Could you turn that off?" Nana asked politely from their yard and smiled at him.

"Sure, Mom," he answered back and went to the stove. Turning the switch off the stove, the fire it emits slowly lowered down until its gone.

_If only I could get a switch and… Wait!_ he paused and looked at his hand, _What if I could just create my own switch? Maybe I could… that's right._

He clenched his fists in determination as he has thought of something. _Maybe I could do that…. I could try,_ he told himself and called out for his mother. He took Natsu back to his ring before jogging out of his house.

He ran off to the exact same place where he first learned the technique of the First's Zero-Point-Breakthrough.

Tsuna stood there with his ring on his finger and the mittens, on his hands. He closed his eyes.

_Here it goes,_ he told himself and concentrated.

* * *

"I wonder where Juudaime went?" Gokudera asked no one in particular as he strode around. He went to his Boss' house but his mother said the person he went looking for already left.

He continued to walk around, hoping to find his precious Boss while giving everyone else a scowl. For him, it's only his Boss was worthy of his time. Then, as if on cue, he caught eye of his Boss running to somewhere.

Gokudera was going to call out for him, when he noticed the other's stern face. So instead of disturbing his Boss, he decided to just follow from behind.

They ended up in an open space on the mountain behind town. He watched silently as the soon-to-be-Tenth stood there in silence as if thinking deeply.

For awhile, they stayed like this, his Boss standing motionless and him, observing in silence.

Alas, after awhile a period of time, his Boss slowly opened his eyes.

Gokudera blinked and rubbed his own eyes. He isn't sure but he saw a flame burn out of his Boss' eyes in a mere second.

"Hayato, you could come out now,"

His eyes widened in surprise and awe as he went his way to his Boss.

"Juudaime," he muttered with appraisal lingering on his voice.

"What are you doing here?" the brunette asked and sat on the ground so casually.

"I was looking for you," he grinned, "I want to know what kind of training Juudaime's doing."

The other nodded in understanding.

"What were you doing anyway, Juudaime?" he asked.

"Oh… uh… How do I explain this?" his Boss ran his fingers to his hair, "I'm trying to find a way to go to my Hyper-Will-Mode without getting shot by Reborn's bullet or swallowing any deathperation pills."

"Amazing…!"

"It's not that amazing… really,"

"But it is! You're doing it without anyone helping you,"

_You just don't know how amazing you are, Juudaime,_ he thought, _Anyone could see that. That's why I'll follow you whenever you may go._

"But I still can't get it right… I don't know what it is that I'm doing wrong…" his Boss sighed, almost hissing in frustration.

."Don't worry Juudaime. I know you could do it!" he said, trying to encourage his disheartened Boss.

The other smiled with a thank you and stood back up.

"Alright I'll do it again,"

* * *

"Sempai?" Yamamoto called while peaking from the door of the Boxing club, careful not to disturb anyone at all.

Then, he heard a faint sound of punches. He followed it and has arrived at the back of the said club's room.

_Whoosh_

_Whoosh_

_Pang_

_Whoosh_

_Pang_

_Boom_

"Extreme!"_  
_

* * *

_Concentrate,_ he chanted behind his mind while picturing an image of his flame flickering brightly inside. Tsuna focused on containing his flame and compressing it. Again, the flame flickered but slowly it became calm. He started to keep the container enlarge while keeping the flame serene. In the first few minutes it was alright considering he did it bit by bit. But when he has reached twice the size of the latter compressed state of the flame, it began to stir a tad wild.

_Relax… and concentrate harder…_ his mind repeated. He let himself get a peaceful mind. Unconsciously, he lifted his arms as his intuition acted. His hands neared each other and made his fingers touch each other like of its position during his Zero-Point-Breakthrough-First-Edition.

The flame kept on flickering. In a matter of what seemed like hours, in which in reality it has only been a few minutes, he has kept it to his hold and has tamed it gradually. He lifted his eyelids and waited for the right timing as he let his imaginary container open. And in a matter of seconds, bright orange flame glistened on both his head and hands.

"That's a lot better, dame Tsuna. Now, for your next training,"

* * *

**Otou-san-** Dad

**Sempai**- Senior


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** …I've just reread the past chapters of my fic and gosh… there's been some words omitted and a few grammatical errors so I've just have corrected them…

…And I've been soooo busy this past few weeks… and really sorry for my later than usual update… so many exams… and reports… I wanted to at least update weekly but it's sad to say that school just gets busier every day that passes… So I'll say this again… this is for future chapters… because of school, I may be able to update late but rest assured that I'll make each chapter long enough to keep you guys satisfied… I'll make sure that once I've gotten a free time or less load, I'll write and update ASAP

…Anyway, thanks for all the readers and reviewers… hope you keep on reading my fic…

**Disclaimer:** KHR does not belong to me… not the characters just the idea of my fic and a few OCs that is needed to keep things going here.

* * *

Concentrate_, he chanted behind his mind while picturing an image of his flame flickering brightly inside. Tsuna focused on containing his flame and compressing it. Again, the flame flickered but slowly it became calm. He started to keep the container enlarge while keeping the flame serene. In the first few minutes it was alright considering he did it bit by bit. But when he has reached twice the size of the latter compressed state of the flame, it began to stir a tad wild._

Relax… and concentrate harder… _his mind repeated. He let himself get a peaceful mind. Unconsciously, he lifted his arms as his intuition acted. His hands neared each other and made his fingers touch each other like of its position during his Zero-Point-Breakthrough-First-Edition._

_The flame kept on flickering. In a matter of what seemed like hours, in which in reality in has only been a few minutes, he has kept it to his hold and has tamed it gradually. He lifted his eyelids and waited for the right timing as he let his imaginary container open. And in a matter of seconds, bright orange flame glistened on both his head and hands._

_"That's a lot better, dame Tsuna. Now, for your next training,"_

Bright orange flame slowly faded on the young Decimo's forehead. His hands falling limply on his sides. His vision begun to blur as he saw a smirk behind the brim of a familiar fedora.

"J-Juudaime…!" a frantic voice from Hayato was the last that he heard before falling to unconsciousness.

* * *

"I guess he used too much energy for going to HDW mode by himself for the first time," Reborn shrugged as Gokudera carried his student on his back, "Go get Tsuna back to his house. I need to go somewhere."

"Of course, Reborn-san. I'll take care of Juudaime as if I were to die!" Hayato saluted with a very determined look, and bowed in respect before leaving.

Reborn pulled his fedora to his face when the two finally left, then smiled softly.

_He could finally go to HDW mode by himself, and it was in an incredibly quick pace, as well. The Ninth took half a year before he was able to do it, and that's already the fastest record in the history of Vongola bosses after Primo… but now he was able to figure it out in a shorter time. You see, Tsuna… You're not that useless as you think you are. You've just been demoralized by everyone else that has called you dame… but you should remain humble and wise…_

He took Leon to his hands and let him morph to a phone. Then, he placed it to his ear, _Now, to report this to Ninth._

* * *

_Smack!_

_Wham!_

_Swoosh!_

_Bam!_

Yamamoto peeked in the backdoor of the boxing club's room just in time to see his sempai release a swift but powerful hook to a torn out punching bag.

_Bam!_

Ryohei released a straight right hand punch and had almost torn the bag apart. He was in awe. Then, the white haired boxer continued with small jabs to the poor beaten up bag.

_Sempai is quite dedicated. He puts so much passion into boxing as much as I do with baseball. It wouldn't be fair if I ask for a match against sempai… I have a weapon but he doesn't… but I know sempai is really strong. There's so much power in each punch and if I ended with a match with him, I have to be careful or else my Shigure Kintoki would shatter to pieces if it were hit. Maybe it's not a good idea to ask him for a match after all._

"Yes, it really wouldn't be a wonderful sight, seeing comrades' fight amongst each other. Tsuna would be really upset once he knows of this,"

Yamamoto turned to his right, only to find a baby in a well refined suit drinking coffee while sitting a miniature couch.

"Oh, kid! What are you doing here?" he asked with his grin.

"Hmph. Supervising," the other answered with a flat tone.

"OH! YAMAMOTO! ARE YOU HERE TO FINALLY JOIN THE BOXING CLUB?" Ryohei asked in a usual hyper tone as he finally noticed their presence.

"Actually sempai, I was… uh…" he came to think of an appropriate excuse, "I was just passing by…"

"THEN JOIN THE BOXING CLUB SINCE YOU'RE EXTREMELY HERE ALREADY!"

"Sorry sempai but I can't do that. I'm already part of the baseball club. And besides, I'm not into boxing at all," Yamamoto waved his hands to oppose the boxer's idea and laughed like the good natured person he is.

"Eh? YOU SHOULD TRY BOXING TO THE EXTREME!"

"…ehehe… maybe some other time…" he laughed at his sempai's excessiveness, "I guess I have to go now…" He politely waved his hand then left with Reborn on his shoulder.

"So, what are you planning to do?" the baby hitman asked.

"…hmm…" he frowned while thinking, "I don't know… Anyway, how's Tsuna doing?"

"He's fine… You should worry about yourself more than that dame student of mine," Reborn snorted before leaving him alone.

_Now what am I suppose to do? _Yamamoto asked himself.

He sighed and went straight home, knowing that he won't be able to concentrate in school. He carefully slipped out of school and went on to his destination. As he entered his home, he arrived at a normal scene on their shop. His father was making sushi and serving them to the customers and the rest talking to each other, enjoying the welcoming air and the delicious sushi.

His father grinned at him right when he has announced his arrival. He returned a smile. He excused himself and went straight to his room. He didn't want his father to get worried of his thoughts so, he said he has lots of things to study about.

* * *

(**A/N:** Ok, I'm going to start referring Yamamoto as Takeshi and his dad as Tsuyoshi to avoid any misunderstandings.)

* * *

Tsuyoshi just nodded and let him be. Little did Takeshi know that Tsuyoshi had already sensed that something was off with his son. So, as soon as all the customers were gone, he went to Takeshi's room. He sighed as he caught his son laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. He made his presence known when he cleared his throat.

"Oto-san!" Takeshi jumped up, startled at his dad's arrival, "I was… uh…"

"You're thinking too much. And we both know that that's not where you're best in… So tell me, what is it that has made my carefree son look so serious?" Tsuyoshi stood in front of his son with his arms crossed in his chest while waiting for a response.

Takeshi stifled a laugh before looking back at his dad while rubbing the back of his neck, "You've caught me, Pops."

"So…?"

"Oh, right… Actually… I'm thinking that… I want to get stronger. I want to help my friends in any way I can. And the only way to do that is to get stronger. But I don't know how. I thought if I could fight someone and could learn something new then… I could be strong. But I can't think of anyone at all…"Takeshi gripped on the blanket in his bed hard and bit his lip.

_My son still wants to get stronger, huh?_

Tsuyoshi was silent for awhile until he stood up and went to the door, "Go to the dojo after dinner if you really want to get stronger. I know someone who could be your opponent."

"Really? Who?" Takeshi asked but there's no one else was there left to answer his question.

* * *

"Oi, dame-Tsuna , wake up!" Reborn kicked Tsuna on his stomach. Tsuna immediately shot up with this while grimacing over the pain.

"What is it now?" he groaned and glared at no one in particular.

"You have guests waiting. A Boss should not make his guests wait long. Now, keep moving and make yourself more presentable,"

"Eh?"

But before he could even complain, his tutor has already left. He grumbled over his tutor's menacing attempts to make his life terrible but nonetheless followed what Reborn had told him to do.

He sighed and composed himself as he left his room, sensing that it isn't a normal guest. As he reached their living room, a flash of white sped in front of him, holding dynamites in his hands.

"H-Hayato," he tried to get an immediate response but was stopped when he noticed a couple of men sitting in zabutons. (_A zabuton is a Japanese cushion for sitting._) His mother was serving these men tea while Reborn was sitting casually in the sofa, drinking his espresso.

A man with black hair and brown eyes, wearing a stern face was sitting at the center. He seemed to be the group's leader. The man turned to him. Tsuna swallowed from behind his friend expecting something awful to happen because of the frightful looks these men have. However, he was surprised when the said group bowed at the sight of him with their heads on the floor.

"Vongola Juudaime!" the men greeted with such respect.

_What. The. Heck?_ He screamed on his mind. He turned to Reborn for an answer but the said person gave him a you-better-act-right-or-else look. He gulped then breathed in and out to calm himself. He hesitantly nodded to his tutor, afraid of what would happen to him if he won't behave right in Reborn's eyes.

He made a complacent face, to make himself look business-like though he's quite scared and frenzied inside.

He tapped his friend's shoulder and gestured him to put the dynamites away. Hayato gave him a confused faced but still obeyed. He then sat down beside his tutor and has told the guests to lift their heads.

"Vongola Juudaime…" the leader repeated while looking straight at him. Tsuna tried his best to keep his internal turmoil out of sight while staring back at the man, "I am Sato Hiroyuki. I'm Momokyo-kai's kumicho." (_Kumicho is the yakuza boss._)

_Why's the Momokyo-kai yakuza here?_ He thought but only waited for the man in front of him to continue.

"I know that our former meeting wasn't what we can call pleasant but… Please Sawada-dono… We are in deep need for your help," the man bowed again.

"Sato… san," he started, contemplating if it was the right honorific he was supposed to use, "…uhm… What is it that you need help for?" _I hope it's not that scary._

The rest remained silent while Gokudera was still on his guard, getting ready for any sudden attack.

"It's about the recent yakuza killings," Sato said.

Tsuna's eyes sharpened upon hearing this, forgetting his tension just awhile ago.

"The assassination at Kyoto," he added and was answered by a nod.

"Yes… we don't want to submit this low but I don't wish to see my Kobun (_Kobun is how yakuza refer to subordinates or brothers._) dying because of my pride. If Yoshioka-kai, one of the largest and most infamous yakuza of the Japanese Imperial State, has been pulverized then… what would become of us? We're only a small group and there's no one else on top of us that we could run to. That's why… I would like to ask for you and your family's protection. Please accept out request, Vongola Juudaime!"

Tsuna could see the sincerity and pleading in the eyes of the man.

"What now, Juudaime?" Gokudera asked. Tsuna turned to his tutor for advice but Reborn only raised an eyebrow.

Tsuna already knows what it meant. It meant that he should decide by himself. Whatever it is that he think is right, will be final.

He sighed in resignation. This made the yakuza members look at him indifferently.

He put back his straight face before answering, "Sato-san, I can't assure you absolute protection right now because I don't have full hold of Vongola yet…" He said unconsciously adding the word 'yet' on his sentence. Reborn smirked. Hayato smiled. Sato frowned. Tsuna lifted his hand to silently say that he isn't done talking yet, "But rest assured that I will do my best to do so."

A mix of hope and appreciation flashed on the men's expressions over his declaration.

Sato stood from his seat almost immediately and went in front of him. At first, Tsuna felt confused to the man's actions but Reborn had glared at him so he'd stay in place. Then, Sato kneeled and took his hand.

_What's he doing?_ He asked himself, getting troubled.

The next thing he knew, Sato have already kissed his ring. Tsuna remember reading this as a form of paying respect to people who's supposedly of higher position as them for mafia men; of course, according to the book Reborn have forced him to read almost every day.

"We are indebted to you Vongola Juudaime. Ask anything and we shall do the best we can to grant it to you," Sato pledged with his right hand on his chest and lowered his head, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me… I haven't done anything yet," Tsuna smiled softly which surprised the men.

Later on, Sato's expression softened as well then closed his eyes, as if feeling at peace, "You're too kind. But either way, I'm still thankful to you for granting our request... Therefore, please let my son serve you your needs…"

"No, there's no need for that," he tried to protest but Sato gave him a deathly glare, implying he won't accept any refusal, "Seiji!"

_Seiji?_ He began thinking as if he had heard of the name before. Then, the person in askance stood up and went passed the rest of the group from behind and onto his father's side.

Familiarity hit him, as he got a full view of Sato's son. It was as if seeing a younger version of the yakuza boss.

"Sato-kun?" he asked in confirmation. The other only looked at him for a minute before turning his sight to another direction.

"Seiji, be good and do whatever he says," the Kumicho glared at his son to pay attention. Seiji nodded, much to his father's satisfaction.

Soon the group left with much of appreciation and apologies to their sudden visit. But his mother only smiled warmly to them, not really knowing who those people were because she was in the kitchen the whole time.

Tsuna slumped his back to the couch with a sigh of relief.

"Good work, dame-Tsuna. That's not bad for your first time facing another boss though you still need training so you'd be able to face bigger people without pissing your pants," Reborn teased while sipping into his drink.

"So, you're not as innocent as you look after all," a voice grunted on his side. He turned to the voice and sees Sato Seiji, a classmate of his, standing there.

"S-Sato-kun…!" he gulped, not knowing what to say.

"How could someone be as pathetic as you should be a Boss of a supposedly strong mafia family?" Seiji gritted his teeth and balled his hand into a fist while glaring hardly at him (_**A/N:**__ I'm calling him Seiji in my narration so that we'll have clarity between him and his father. Anyway, moving on…_), "And Dad just has to bow down to a no-good person that flunked at tests and suck so much in PE!"

"Oi! How dare you talk to Juudaime that way? Apologize or I'll blow you up!" Hayato took out his dynamites dangerously pointing it to the other.

"So you're part of it too, Gokudera? No wonder you have such bad manners," Seiji continued to throw insults which made the young Mafioso boil in anger.

"Hayato calm down and put away those dynamites," Tsuna pleaded with his eyes. Seiji raised an eyebrow as Hayato begrudgingly hid back his dynamites once again.

"So, you're for real, huh?" Seiji remained in his stoic face, "Well, I don't care. I'm not going to follow you around like a loyal mutt." Seiji looked pointedly at Hayato wherein the said person only ignored him and 'tch'-ed.

"It's fine. I know how no-good of a person I am," he admitted while keeping Hayato's protests and appraisal's of his 'greatness' stop, "I know that I only became the heir of Vongola because everyone else pretty much died… and I still can't fully accept this position as well. But for the sake of my friends, that I happened to have dragged in it, I'll do my best to protect them even if it kills me."

He then looked straight in the eyes of Seiji. He could see the confusion over his classmate's eyes pretty clearly but he stood his ground.

"Hmph," Seiji looked away, stubbornly with his bangs curtaining his eyes, "Even if you do your best, as you say it. What could a weakling like you do?"

"You fucking bastard! You can't speak to Juudaime like that! No one can!" Hayato snarled then looked at his Boss for permission to throw his dynamites to Seiji.

Tsuna shook his head in disapproval then turned to Seiji with hard eyes, "I'm sorry Sato-kun… Even I don't want myself to be a mafia boss. But that doesn't matter as of now."

"What do you mean?" Seiji looked back at him, "You promised my father as a mafia boss and you say that doesn't matter? What kind of game are you playing us with?"

"You misunderstood. I did not promise anything, all I said is that I'll do my best to protect everyone else for we aren't fully aware of how strong our opponents are. If I promise them that I'll definitely win but I'd lose, then I've only mislead their hope. I'm pretty sure your father understood that," Tsuna answered with confidence.

"Tch. You're just lucky that Juudaime's kind enough to care about others. Those freaks are coming here anyway so we may as well include you bunch of wimps," Hayato pocketed his hands with a snort.

"Whatever, I'm leaving," Seiji went to the house's genkan and left.

"Tsu-kun! Have your friend left?" Nana came out of the kitchen then looked around on the living room. She pouted as she noticed that Seiji indeed have already left the house, "I thought he's going to stay for dinner. I already added his portion…"

"Maybe he'll stay next time, Mamman," Tsuna tried comfort his mother.

"Alright, but Gokudera-kun's staying for dinner," Nana said in finality and went back to the kitchen humming to herself.

Tsuna chuckled over this and turned to his friend, "Ne~ Hayato… You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all, Juudaime!" Hayato answered almost immediately.

_Ding Dong Ding Dong_

"Good, he's back," Reborn said.

"Who's back?" Tsuna demanded.

"Oh! You came back! You're joining us for dinner after all," Nana clapped her hands from the genkan.

"Who is it, Mamman?" Tsuna stood up to look to the visitor and found an unreadable face of Seiji.

"Tsu-kun, keep him company while I go back to the kitchen for the dinner preparation," Nana then left them.

"Where is it?" Seiji asked, dark aura surrounding him.

"Huh? What's wrong Sato-kun?" Tsuna tried to make sense of the situation but thought of nothing.

"**Where. Is. It?**" Seiji repeated with a darker tone.

"What are you talking about?" Hayato raised his eyebrow.

"By it… do you mean this?" Reborn pulled out a phone with a hello kitty key chain hanging on its side.

Seiji's eyes widened and a tint of red painted his pale cheeks. Hayato's lips curved into a smile, mocking the red faced boy.

"Reborn, when did you get that from Sato-kun?" Tsuna asked in alarm.

"Hmph. Shut up, dame-Tsuna," Reborn threw him a menacing grin.

"Why did you took it?" Tsuna added for inquiry.

"Give that back, you brat!" Seiji went near Reborn but Reborn cocked his gun in front of him.

"Don't call me brat," Reborn said then shot a bullet at the poor boy, purposely missing an ear, "Anyway… I took it so you won't leave."

"Eh?" the three middle schoolers said in unison.

"Do you know why your father left you here?" Reborn started then went polishing his gun. Seiji shook his head stiffly, "Hmph. It's to make sure that dame-Tsuna would keep his word."

"B-But I'd keep my word even if Sato-kun isn't here," Tsuna frowned.

"Yes, the Kumicho believes you that you will… but not all of his subordinates feels the same… He's an example of that," the baby hitman pointed at Seiji, "Sato Hiroyuki is a wise man, befitting as a boss. He takes his family into consideration. You should learn from his example, dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna opened his mouth to retort but closed it in a second, not muttering a single word.

"Tch. You have such a lame taste with your accessories," Hayato mocked while studying the keychain closely.

"S-Shut up! My little sister g-gave that to m-me! So don't misunderstand!" Seiji stuttered with a crimson hue on his face.

"I-I don't think its t-that of a bad choice if its f-from your sister," Tsuna tried to suppress his laughter but he find it difficult when he's seeing the constant changing of expressions every two seconds on his classmates face. First, he frantic then he's furious and it'll change to embarrassment. It just doesn't seem too normal. He find it quite hilarious. It was not long until he went out of control and went laughing out loud.

"D-Don't laugh!" Seiji shouted.

Tsuna softened his laugh and covered his mouth with his hand. But there's no sign of him stopping any second. All those days of frowning, and thinking seriously and deeply made his laughter piled up and made him not want to stop. It felt so good to be able to laugh beyond all worries.

_Ding Dong Ding Dong_

The bell went off once again.

"H-Hayato… C-Could you get that… f-for me?" Tsuna asked in between his laughs. The dynamite expert nodded with a wide smile that appeared in his face as he heard his Boss' laugh for the first time in days.

"Who was… it?" Tsuna breathed in slowly to calm his laughter when his friend returned.

"Tsuna-kun," Kyoko stood behind Hayato with a smile on her face.

He gave her back his genuine smile. This made the newly arrival flush. Tsuna shrugged it off, thinking that Kyoko was just being modest and felt shy for coming unannounced.

"Sasagawa Kyoko…" Seiji muttered to himself in amazement.

"What brings you here, Kyoko-chan?"

"OH! Uhm… I just thought that since you haven't been in school for quite some time now I could bring a copy of the lessons we've been taking in class. You've also missed a few quizzes and so when you get back you'll probably be taking them all… So, I'll be bringing you notes for you to study till you get back," Kyoko answered, her flustered face getting normal again.

"You're making Sasagawa-chan do your work? You lazy, no-good person!" Seiji pointed at him with anger written in his eyes.

"Sato-kun? Why are you here?" Kyoko said, finally noticing the said person's presence.

"Sasagawa-chan, you don't have to bring notes to dame-Tsuna. It's a waste of time. He's a nobody so you don't have to pay attention to him," Seiji added.

"But Tsuna-kun isn't a nobody! Tsuna-kun is really great and strong. You just can't see it because he's just so kind and sweet," Kyoko frowned but turned out to look more like a cute pout than what it's suppose to be while Hayato was nodding the whole time, "Tsuna-kun has done so many amazing things already. He even saved me and the others before. So, please don't ever say those things about Tsuna-kun again!"

"Kyoko… chan," Tsuna stood there, unable to speak. _Did she just praise me?_ He blushed over the thought.

Kyoko then realized what she just said and turned bright red.

"I… I… I… Ihavetogohomenow.I'!" Kyoko said without stopping. She dropped the paper bag where the said notes were and ran out of the house.

"Oi, dame-Tsuna. A Boss doesn't let his Maddona ran out of the house especially if she has an unsettled mind. It's dangerous for her. So, go after her," Reborn pointed his Leon-gun at him.

Tsuna then snapped out of his trance and went running to the door to chase after Kyoko. After awhile of searching, he found her sitting on a swing at the playground while staring at the ground.

He sighed in relief as he found her unharmed. He slowly approached her and halted when he was already in front of her. He stood there, waiting for her to notice. When he thought that she wouldn't be able to be aware of him anytime soon, Tsuna called her name, "Kyoko-chan."

Kyoko's head snapped up and blushed at the sight of him.

"T-Tsuna-kun…" she muttered unconsciously and stood up with a surprised expression.

"Anou… Reborn told me to go look for you…" he started while rubbing his nape and looking away, "…And so I could… uh…"

He sighed once again then dropped his hands on his side. He smiled and looked back at her, "Thanks… Thank you for defending me awhile ago."

She stared at him for a moment then she smiled brightly, "Your welcome."

_She's so cute~_ his inner fan boy squealed as blood rushed up to his cheeks. He began stuttering incomprehensible words. This made Kyoko giggle. Soon after he joined in with her and laughed freely.

* * *

After dinner, Takeshi wondered where his father went to when he wasn't able to join him for the meal. He went out of their home and walked straight to the dojo. He breathed in and out slowly with his eyes closed.

_Whoever it is that's waiting for me behind this door… I'll have to win against him, _he tightened his grip on his Shigure Kintoki then opened his eyes with determination.

He opened the door and stepped inside. He faced to his left to meet the sharp gaze of the silhouette at the center of the dojo. The man unsheathed his katana, revealing its sharp blade.

_Those eyes… This aura…_ Takeshi eyed his soon to be opponent as the other lifted his katana, pointing its blade to him.

"Takeshi…"

_That voice! Could it be?_

The feathery clouds in the sky floated away from the moon. The silver light flowed down from the sky to the shadowed silhouette.

"Oto-san!"

There stood his father, piercing through his whole body with a firm gaze.

"Takeshi… if you want to be stronger…" Tsuyoshi pulled his katana to his side so the blade would face the floor and the ceiling. He stepped his right foot behind so he'd be slightly facing the side.

_Why?_ Takeshi's mind rumbled with questions.

Tsuyoshi turned the blade to face his son.

"… You have to surpass your master!" Tsuyoshi let out a battle cry as he dashed in front of the younger swordsman.

Blades clashed as Takeshi held his weapon in a defensive stance. His hands trembled as he struggled to oppose his father's strength.

"What's wrong Takeshi? Can't you do anything else?" Tsuyoshi withdrew his blade and charged forward to attack with a thrust, _First offensive form, Shajiku no Ame (Axle if the Rain)…_

(**A/N:** I know… This is the third time I'm going in between your reading and I bet you're getting annoyed by now because of this but this is important. The _underlined italics_ will be Tsuyoshi's thoughts while the _italics_ only are Takeshi's. Ok, continue…)

_Fourth defensive form, Gofuu Juuu (May wind, October rain),_ Takeshi sidestepped to his right as he held his katana with both his hands below to evade. He synchronized his breathing to his opponent and avoided another attack.

Tsuyoshi smirked and dropped his weapon in a flash. His katana went flying towards his son after he kicked it with his right foot.

Takeshi's eyes widened and cursed under his breath as he dodged the blade in a whim. As he exhaled his held breath, he failed to notice his opponent already standing behind him.

"You won't win by just defending, Takeshi. I thought you knew better than that,"

He turned around just in time to block his father's katana and let his' slide on the other's blade. He made a mental slap to get himself to concentrate on his fight, _Pay attention, Takeshi… You promised yourself to win no matter who it is you'll be up against to become stronger._ Then, he slid his hand that's holding his weapon to behind and spins 360⁰ to slash the blade diagonally on his opponent's chest.

_Swoosh!_

Tsuyoshi quickly blocks Takeshi's blade like how the latter did on their first strike.

"That's good… You used Shibuki Ame (Pelting Rain) as an offense," Tsuyoshi praised while holding his ground.

"Just like what they say, the best offense is the best defense," Takeshi answered as his eyes glimmered.

His father chuckled a bit on this, "I think it should be the best defense is the best offense and not the other way around."

"Ahaha… It's all the same to me, Pops,"

Takeshi took the two blades apart and thrust his blade with one hand multiple times, _Eleventh offensive form, Beccata di Rondine (Swallow's Beak)!_

Tsuyoshi evaded and blocked each attack with ease and accuracy, "That's new… As expected of my son… But you'll have to do better than that to defeat me." Tsuyoshi twirled to his side, holding the back of his weapon and hit his son's wrist.

The Shigure Kintoki slipped out of Takeshi's hand and was thrown away because of the force.

"What'll you do now?"

Takeshi scrambled his feet to grab his sword while the older swordsman charged with the blade of his katana in front. Sweat dropped from his forehead as he felt his heart thump faster. He gulped as he almost got caught by his father's attack if he didn't got up by the last second. More sweat formed on his nape as the shoji board (_Shoji boards are traditional paper-covered sliding doors found on most old houses)_ ripped into two. He ran outside and onto the forest.

Tsuyoshi took out the blade of his katana from the wooden floor as he watched the teen leave. He heaved a sigh before chasing his son.

Takeshi didn't stopped running but made sure that his father was following right behind him. He scanned his surroundings as he run, in search of a source of water.

"You can't run forever, Takeshi,"

Takeshi smirked as he saw the glimmering waters from the lake up ahead. He made his way to the said lake and went to the center. With his feet and ankles were submerged into the water, he waited for his father to catch up.

"So, is this your battle plan? Find water…?"

"You talk too much, Pops,"

"Hmph. Why does it bother you?"

"Not really," Takeshi grinned then pointed his blade to the ground as its tip touched the water. He then lifted his Shigure Kintoki as it brought up waves of water surrounding him, _Second defensive form, Sakamaku Ame (Rolling Rain)_.

He tucked his weapon to his front for his defense. He then sees his father's figure through the water and waited for his attack. Tsuyoshi jumped up to slash his sword.

Takeshi raised the blade to his face as he sees his father's image in the wave of water to his left. However, a second later he saw another figure of Tsuyoshi on the wave at his right.

_What the…? How'd…? _his eyes widened as realization struck him, _from behind!_

He turned around when he saw his opponent's real figure falling down with his katana in front.

* * *

**A/N:** Ok, so how was that? Good enough for the long wait? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it… and please review~ ^-^


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** *breath in* *breath out* Osu! I'm back! Bringing you the update~

After awhile of waiting… without a further ado… I now present to you the ninth chapter~ enjoy!

* * *

Famiglia

Chapter 9

08/29/10

* * *

Second defensive form, Sakamaku Ame (Rolling Rain).

_He tucked his weapon to his front for his defense. He then sees his father's figure through the water and waited for his attack. Tsuyoshi jumped up to slash his sword._

_Takeshi raised the blade to his face as he sees his father's image in the wave of water to his left. However, a second later he saw another figure of Tsuyoshi on the wave at his right._

What the…? How'd…?_ his eyes widened as realization struck him, _from behind!

_He turned around when he saw his opponent's real figure falling down with his katana in front._

Takeshi jumped back to his father's attack however he fell behind instead. He gulped as he took his katana to guard his front with one hand on the handle and the other on its blade. Tsuyoshi pushed his sword nearer and nearer to his son, exerting more force as time passes.

Sweat begun to drop from Takeshi's forehead. Half his body was damped with cold water, making him almost delirious with his heart beating fast and stomach churning from nervousness. His breath became heavier as exhaustion from running finally came to him. He turned his sight to his father's eyes, and met his stern and sharp gaze. He could see coldness on those eyes and a faint disappointment, almost like hoping for him to give much more of a fight.

_What to do? What to do? What to do? _The same question echoed in his mind. He gulped and opened his mouth to let out his warm breath.

After awhile of silence and constant exchange of strong force, he'd managed to push his opponent away from him.

He breathed through his mouth as he tried to think calmly. He breathed in the same pace as his heartbeats as the cold night breeze nuzzled on his nose.

He closed his eyes and inhaled softly. His katana lay limply on his side.

_Stay calm_, he told himself then opened his eyes with his head still on a bow. His eyes stayed still as he watched the reflection of the moon in the water. A droplet fell from his Shigure Kintoki's tip and fell on the reflection. The image became fuzzy. His lips parted a centimeter under his shadowed face as an idea came to him.

Takeshi returned his father's look with an equally stern face. His eyes narrowed to a sharp gaze. With his feet apart, he positioned his blade on his right near his waist, and slanted his whole katana diagonally so its edge is pointing on his left shoulder. Then, not a moment later, he charged his way to his opponent. Two blades clashed every second as the two swordsmen dueled for the win.

* * *

Tsuna stepped inside his house while heaving a sigh of relief.

"I'm home," he called while taking off his shoes.

"Juudaime! You're back," Hayato chimed and went scrambling from the living room, "Are you hurt? Did anyone bother you in any way? Lemme knock them down so they'll know their place!" Hayato went to inspect him for any injury.

He sweat-dropped over this and patted his friend's shoulder in assurance of his well-being, "I'm fine, Hayato."

"As expected of Juudaime~ you're absolutely amazing. You've taken care of those bastards by yourself that you didn't need any help at all!" Hayato praised with his hands clasped from one another and his eyes shimmering in amazement.

"Ie, Hayato… There's no one that actually… uh… bullied me or hurt me in any way," he smiled.

"Yeah, because they're probably already tired of bullying dame-Tsuna," Seiji leaned on the wall with a disgusted expression.

"Wha-"

"Calm down, Hayato," Tsuna said in much authority when the said bomber was about to punch Seiji on the face.

"Lucky bastard," the young Mafioso grunted.

"Dinner's ready~" Nana called from the kitchen, easing the tensed atmosphere, "If you don't come here now, the food will get cold."

"Coming!" he answered and gestured for them to follow.

All the while, the teens were silent as they ate. Not saying a word apart from the constant reprimands to a certain stubborn cow.

"Did you enjoy the meal, Hayato? Sato-kun?" Tsuna asked, offering a warm smile at the guests.

"How am I going to enjoy a meal when I know that there's an enemy that's after our BLOOD… and Dad just has to entrust the most dame person of our school with our lives," Seiji grumbled lowly so Nana won't be able to hear him.

Tsuna smiled sadly at this, realizing once more the severity of the problem.

"…_You always fought with your life in the line. Life is irreplaceable…"_

Reborn's words flashed back to his mind. And soon several more statements from other people splat all over his head.

"…_You won't be able to reason out to the enemy and expect them to listen to you…"_

"_Won't you regret if they die and you can't do anything about it?"_

He covered his eyes with his palm as his elbows leaned on the table.

"Tsu-kun… Are you alright?" Nana asked worriedly as she noticed his son's gloom.

"…_You won't be able to escape. If you stay only in your so called safe zone, soon enough the enemy will break down those weak fences…"_

He bit his lower lip and stood up from his seat.

"Juudaime…?" Gokudera stood up as well and slowly came to his side.

"_You can't turn your back now…"_

"…_You want to protect them too…"_

"…_You're the same, aren't you?"_

Tsuna lifted his bowed head and looked straight into Seiji's eyes, "Yes. I will protect them. I assure you that I WILL do EVRYTHING that I can to assure a better future."

* * *

Seiji was grumbling while eating when he heard his so called dame classmate ask him a trivial question on this dire situation. He was hoping for the other to hear it and was expecting Tsuna to cower as he made emphasis to the word 'BLOOD'. However the reaction he got was different. The said soon-to-be-boss didn't even flinch like he has seen other's blood spurt around him but instead he only smiled sadly. Later, half of his classmate's face has been covered by his eyes. The rest of the company with them soon noticed the brunette's silence and held their tongues.

"Tsu-kun, are you alright?" Nana broke the deafening silence in the room.

Frustration soon was written in his face as he got on his feet. The young Decimo's dog tried to inquire of his master's well being.

Seiji noiselessly snorted. He looked at back again to his classmate with a bored expression. He yawned then clicked his tongue. He watched as Tsuna lifted his face and revealed his big chocolate eyes. He silently gasped as amazement flowed through his system. He blinked once… twice… thrice. He rubbed his eyes with his balled hands as he thought he saw those chocolate eyes blazed in a fiery orange hue.

"Yes. I will protect them. I assure you that I WILL do EVRYTHING I can to assure a better future," the other declared with a calm but strong voice as if commanding him to believe his words.

"Kyah~ Tsuna-kun's becoming more like Iemitsu more and more each day!" Nana squealed, "I'm going to make a call to your father right now."

"Anou sa… Okaa-san… it's no-" he sighed as he left his unfinished sentence when his mother hummed to the phone.

Seiji was going to ask what that was all about when the brunette's senses' got alerted and side-stepped. A flash of black landed on the floor.

"Hmph. You were actually able to dodge this time around," Reborn made his way to his seat on the dining table as Seiji just stared blankly. He can't decide if it's because he's supposedly no-good-classmate were able to have sensed and dodged that fast flying kick that no one have been aware, or that if a baby was able to make that awe-inspiring flying kick.

"Reborn… where were you?" Tsuna asked while Seiji and Gokudera watched the other pair.

"Takeda Hojo along with the rest of the small fry yakuza in Kanto were all found dead for the last few minutes," Reborn stated.

"Who's-"

"Takeda Hojo is one of the most notorious criminal in Japan," Tsuna explained, answering Gokudera's unanswered question, "He's been told to be missing for three years now and nobody have ever caught him. It's said that it's because he's good at hiding."

"Oh… I see," Gokudera nodded in understanding.

"Yeah and it's also because that's not his real name," Seiji added.

"And how would an incompetent insect like you would know anything, huh?" Gokudera said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's 'cause his my brother," Seiji damped on the silverette's face, "…argh! I'm going to make them pay for killing Onii-sama. He's been laying low 'cause he wants a peaceful life and now they've killed him. I WILL NOT FORGIVE that person who killed my brother."

"Tch,"

"So I'll take it that you'll be helping us, Sato-kun," Tsuna stated with a smile.

"Che. This will only be a one-time-deal so don't think that we're allies," Seiji crossed his arms on his chest and looked the opposite direction.

"Well, since its all clear that the enemy is on the way here… what's the plan now, Tsuna?" Reborn petted Leon and looked at the person in askance.

"Me?" Tsuna asked while pointing himself.

"You're the Boss, aren't you?" Seiji followed.

"If there's anyone that's going to order me, it's going to be Juudaime," Gokudera avowed.

"Eh?" Tsuna frowned and slumped his shoulders on his sides.

"Baby…"

They all turned around as another voice resounded in the room.

Seiji's eyes widened as he pointed at the newly arrival, "H-Hi-Hi-Hibari K-Kyo-y-ya!"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, I'm holding you responsible for the disruption of the peace… if you don't then, I'll bite you to death," Hibari gazed pointedly at the said brunette.

"Hii! R-Reborn, what's Hibari-san doing here?" Tsuna immediately turned to the said baby.

"You're going to need all the help that you can get so I called him here," Reborn answered so casually.

"Oi! How dare you come to Juudaime's home unannounced? And furthermore… Why the hell did you have to enter through the window?" Gokudera accused as he and the prefect glared at each other.

"H-Hibari-san… Hayato… Please don't fight," Tsuna looked at the two, getting frantic with every second that counts.

"Tch. If it weren't for Juudaime I could have already blown you to smithereens," Gokudea scowled while straightening himself.

"Explain yourself, Sawada Tsunayoshi," Hibari then turned his attention back to the young Decimo as the other heaved a frustrated sigh.

_What the hell is THE HIBARI KYOYA doing here?_ Seiji's mind screamed.

"This is going to be a tiring night," Tsuna murmured to himself.

* * *

Sweat dropped one by one from both swordsmen. They pant in synchronization as their battle ended. One of them stooping on the ground with his weapon thrown away to a distance as the other held his katana with its blade touching the other's neck.

"Good work, Takeshi…" Tsuyoshi said, closing his eyes, "You won. You can take a rest now."

With that said, the Shigure Kintoki transformed back into a shinai and Takeshi collapsed with a victorious smile to his father's arms.

"Sleep well… my son," he muttered in a soft voice, _Yoru no Ame (Rain in the night), huh? They better watch out for that one._

* * *

**A/N:** Well, that was kinda weird… I added 'Takeda Hojo' on this for my OC, Seiji, for some reason though it's not much of a major thing for the plot so don't worry about that. It's just to add to the drama. But feel free to express your thoughts, opinions, suggestions, reactions, questions… or whatsoever for a review…

Please and thank you~

.-.

l l

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Click it… I know you want to…

Please!

*puppy eyes*

*pouts*


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: Osu! We're in a big one-O people… My chapter updates are now on two digits… tee hee.

I was a bit in a writer's block when I was writing this and I even rewrote this chapter just to get it right. So sorry again for the delay and thank you for staying with me.

**Reidluver, bukalay, TsunaxGuardiansforever, Myu Kuran, doremishine itsuko, Yoite-MiharuRokujou-Ciel, **and **katsuki** thank you for your reviews. Sorry if I haven't replied any of you or any of the other reviewers this past chapters nor even thank you guys, 'cause I was kinda in a pinch for awhile. So I'm really sorry about that. But rest assured that I'm truly thankful to you guys 'cause you get me so fired up and inspired to continue. Same with the readers.

Also, here's a special mention for **Ryca Malo** for even bothering herself to send me a fanletter. It's my first time so I was kinda caught off guard there for a minute but I was really flattered with it. Thank you.

Again, thank you for all who favorite-d and story alert-ed this fic. You guys are too kind. Anyway, without any more fuss, you may now read what you came here for XD

**Disclaimer:** I don't own KHR, only borrowing it XD

* * *

Famiglia

Chapter 10

09/25/10

* * *

Hibari walked in the almost empty streets of his town, checking the surroundings for any kind of danger. He strode the road with precaution for any surprise attacks that may happen.

"Chairman," Kusakabe stepped in to his side. Hibari halted and waited for his subordinate's report, "The premises are all clear."

Hibari responded a nod and was about to continue when he took notice of his trusted man still not leaving his position. He raised his eyebrow, silently giving the other permission to ask his thoughts.

"Chairman, I know you mean well and want order on your surroundings… and you're doing quite well or rather better than the local police even but…"

"Stop stalling, Kusakabe,"

"But it's in the middle of the night. No one in Namimori would cause trouble at this course of time,"

"Is that all?"

"Well… yes, Chairman,"

"Hmph. Then get to your post now," with that Hibari walked off to scan the perimeters once again.

"Uhm… O-Of course, Chairman,"

Hibari sighed to the uncertainty in the voice of his subordinate. He's starting to think that a certain tuna fish have rubbed off his stuttering ability to this man. So, he paused once more on his tracks, "There will be trouble makers coming soon according to the baby… and Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Kusakabe looked, surprised, at the retrieving back of his superior then slowly he smiled softly and carried on with his orders.

* * *

"Ryohei..? Ryohei…! Ryohei!"

"Onii-chan's still not home yet, Okaa-san," Kyoko answered her mother's call.

"Eh? It's already getting late and I need him to buy some mushrooms _(__**A/N**__: Sorry can't think of anything else. The idea of mushrooms just won't leave my mind.)_ quickly to the department store," her mother sighed.

Kyoko then smile and got up from her seat and went to her mother, "Don't worry, Okaa-san. I can get it for you."

"No, it'll be dangerous for a girl of your age to be walking in the streets in this time of the night," the older woman refused.

"I'll be fine, Okaa-san. The department store's just near _(__**A/N: **__I'm not really sure about this.)_ so I'll immediately come back right after buying the mushrooms so I won't be in any kind of danger," Kyoko eased her mother, trying to be the good child that she is.

"Ok," her mother finally resigned, "But be quick."

"You won't even know I'm gone," Kyoko assured her mother and left the house.

She treaded the streets with ease but with the right speed to arrive at her destination in a short amount of time. She smiled happily as she easily found the mushrooms in the store and placed a few cans on her basket. She then made her way to the counter to pay for it. The lady smiled at her as Kyoko was given what she bought before bidding her goodnight. Kyoko returned a small bow before heading back home.

"I hope Onii-chan's home already,"

* * *

Shadowed silhouettes moved from roof to roof with each of their steps as silent as the night until they reached a shrine. Each landed flawlessly and took a view in the peaceful night of Namimori.

One of them sat on the entrance stairs of the Haiden _(__**A/N:**__ Haiden is the oratory or hall of worship in the shrine. It's the one in the front of the main hall, or the Honden.)_ as he heaved a sigh. Another was standing right beside him and three more were spread out in the vicinity.

"Dalmazio," called the seated man, whom is the head of the group. The said person turned his sight to him while pocketing his hands to his well-refined suit as he continued, "There's a local yakuza in this town."

The suited man made no comment or comply and walked casually in the streets, already knowing what to do.

"Finally, the old man's gone," a Ruzzian guy that's about in the end of his teens snorted as he ran his fingers to his orange dyed-hair.

"Ne, Ace~ Are we just going to stay here like this?" a playful girl's voice rung on the air.

"Shut up, Sakura," hushed the man standing beside their leader.

"Mou! Vin's being mean to me again, Ace," Sakura pointed her fingers, accusing the aforementioned person.

"Oi, you're ruining the quiet night," the orange haired-guy silenced the teenage girl with a bored tone.

"But how am I going to see Tsu-kun if I stay quiet and away from him!" the lone girl complained and stomped her foot to the ground.

Whines spilled from the girl's mouth and piled the air. Veins started to sprout from the Russian teen's forehead.

"Adrik, Sakura," their leader said in a solemn tone that brought the two in silence and in full attention, "I have something for you to do."

* * *

Chrome was making her way to her boss' home because of the sudden summoning she had from her boss' tutor awhile ago. So, now she's walking in the streets alone under the dark sky, passing by some students clad in black winter uniforms with pompadour hairstyles on her way. Then, a man in a black suit, like of what a business man wore, caught her attention. The man noticed her gaze and turned his head to her. She immediately avoided eye contact and continued her way. They went past each other without any further ado but she just couldn't shake the odd chilly feeling she saw in the man's eyes. It was almost like the man was blind but the way he moved is as if he has full vision of everything in sight. It was like it's devoid… devoid of any kind of emotion, only pride and honor bore inside him from being buttered so much in his life.

She then shrugged it off as she noticed she's already near the department store. A flash of a familiar orange head went passed the store's entrance, carrying a bag that she assumed as to what the said girl came for.

Chrome was going to greet the girl but then, she saw a guy drop down from a high altitude. She immediately took notice of the said man's obviously foreign facets and unnatural orange hair, that's of a darker shade than of her friend's. With that thought, she finally remembered her said friend being approach by the foreigner. Her violet eyes widened as she witnessed the two's disappearance, the latter knocking out the former's consciousness and carrying her off somewhere. She looked around panicking as to where the man has gone off to and sees him making his way to the direction of the shrine. She looked around once more to look for any of those disciplinary committee members littering the place to be called for help but to no avail, the said people were nowhere in sight when she needed them.

"I can't waste anymore time… Kyoko-chan needs my help," with full determination to rescue her friend, she ran as fast as her small legs could carry her.

* * *

"KYOKO!" Ryohei worriedly called on the silent night, "KYOKO! WHERE ARE YOU TO THE EXTREME?"

He ran across the town and stopped at a friend's house. He banged his fist to the door. He couldn't help but feel worried to his sister's disappearance. They both have a close bond which no one can ever deny. He felt irritated to himself as a churning feeling filled his chest.

After what seemed to be forever, Tsuna came to open the door for him. The brunette had a confused look on his face but certainly with a mix of worry painted his eyes.

"SAWADA! HAVE YOU SEEN KYOKO?"

Tsuna's eyes widened as the question came out of his mouth, getting alarmed at the boxer's panicked appearance.

"Wasn't she already home? I accompanied her back earlier," the brunette stated still confused.

"Stupid, lawn head! What're you doing here?" Gokudera came out of the brunette's living room and spat in the sight of the boxer.

"SHE'S NOT HOME TO THE EXTREME! Okaa-san sent her to buy something that I forgot what it is to the department store awhile ago. And she hasn't come back yet to the EXTREME. I've ran to the department store BUT SHE WASN'T THERE!" Ryohei roared to the sky for his beloved little sister.

"K-Kyoko-chan's missing…" Tsuna eye's flashed horrid then to worry and to anger. But what sacred him was a look of cold realization and panic forming in his eyes.

Ryohei could see his kouhai (_Kouhai= junior)_ grip his fists into a tight ball and his eyes shadowed by his bangs.

"Juudaime?" Gokudera came to the brunette's side.

He then took sight of the baby hitman tutor a few meters away from Tsuna with half of his face being shadowed with the brim of his fedora.

A cool silence irked the surroundings, getting colder as the time slowly passed. An unfamiliar black-haired boy went into view with a questioning look on his face but none of them answered it.

"Tsu-kun! Look here~ it's me!" a voice rung in the air.

They turned their heads on the house's front gate and spot a girl who spoke, standing there with her hands at her back, and her body going up and down as she elevated her heels on and off the ground. Ryohei made no recognition to the girl but his Italian bomber friend immediately sent her a deathly glare. Soon enough, Tsuna lifted his head and revealed a pair of unusual cold eyes. The display of bloodlust in his friend's eyes sent him stepping a step back with his voice getting drained.

"Did you miss me?" she giggled as if taunting them to go after her.

"**Where's Kyoko-chan?**" Tsuna finally spoke dangerously with such venom etched into each of his utterance as if he'd wanted the girl to get poisoned by his mere words.

"Hmm… that ugly girl? If you really want to know…" she smirked and turned her back on them before jumping off to a wall, "Come here and try to catch me!"

She then sped off and not a moment later, Ryohei had found Tsuna already behind the girl's pace in his hyper will mode.

"Why are you just standing there lawn head? Hurry up or we're going to leave you!"

Gokudera's voice awakened him from his surprised and stunned stature. He shook his head and went running after his friends with his mind blank, still unable to believe the brunette's inhuman speed.

_What am I thinking? I should concentrate on saving Kyoko… _

…

…_but Sawada's just so… _

"EXTREME!"

* * *

Hibari leaned on the wall with his eyes closed beside the entrance of the Momokyo-kai's base; a base full of weak herbivores instead of ferocious beasts that he could enjoy greedily to prey on, in his opinion.

He then opened his eyes as a figure of an older man in about his mid-thirties, stopped a few meters in front of him. The black suit he wore suited his well-built body as white strands of hair littered his gray hair, contrasting his build.

"Are you strong?" the head prefect smirked as he readied his tonfas on his hands.

"Are you part of those low graded people inside?" the older man asked with his eyes closed and his whole stature as calm as the sky.

"I don't crowd with weaklings," he answered, excitement trembling inside of him, _Finally, an opponent worthy of my time to fight other than the baby._

"Then, I don't have any business with you, young man. So step aside. You're interfering with my plans."

Hibari felt himself twitch with the insult the man has dubbed him. No one has ever denied him. No one has ever rejected him to fight that didn't run in fear. No one has ever offended him like this before in his whole life.

Anger surrounded his heart and determination filled himself to acclaim his tattered honor.

* * *

"Ne, Tsu-kun~is that ugly girl your girlfriend?" Sakura asked while making her way to the shrine. She waited for an answer to the person in askance but the said person didn't seem to intend to give her any kind of answer anytime soon so she spoke once again, "I'm so much cuter than her so you can just dump her and come with me! I'm more appropriate to you than she is. She's so stupid that she let herself get taken out so easily by that stupid Adrik. She's too weak! Someone as important as you are should have a stronger person right beside you."

"Oi! Don't insult Kyoko to the EXTREME! SHE'S AN EXTREMELY NICE GIRL!" Ryohei's disagreement barely gave the girl any kind of regret into her words and just shrugged him off.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes and tried hard to get to their destination so fast so the brunettes wouldn't catch her. She looked at her back. She once again took notice of his bright orange flame in his forehead as he flew to seize her.

She pouted, _Has he been this fast since I last saw him? It's been just a few days and I doubt he could easily get faster in that short amount of time… damn, I'm already on my fastest and he's still just behind my tail._ She inwardly sighed in relief as she took sight of the Torii _(__**A/N:**__ The Shinto gate which we see in the entrance right before the stairs of the shrine.)_. She then glanced behind her at the baby hitman sitting on the silverette's shoulder, _It's probably that Arcobaleno's doings._

"Welcome, Vongola Decimo," a familiar voice echoed in the air as she finally realized she's already on the shrine, getting passed their leader and stopping into the Haiden's roof.

The Decimo's group halted just beside the temizuya _(__**A/N:**__ The temizuya is usually an open area where clear water fills one or various stone basins. This is where worshippers wash their hands. It's located just a few meters after the stairs.)._ She observed the young boss and smiled at his dark appearance, _But he got a lot more cooler than last time, too~_

* * *

"Where's Kyoko-chan?" Tsuna said which seemed more like an order for them to answer his demands than of a simple question.

"Bossu," Chrome said with a surprised look on her face, standing right ahead of them but Tsuna didn't answer her with his usual smile, much to her worry and dismay.

"The girl's inside," a shadowed figure sitting on the Haiden's stairs pointed his thumb inside.

They tried to search for the kidnapped girl but it was too dark to see a thing let alone see what's inside.

"Who are you? And why are you doing this?" Tsuna's eyes flared a dangerous glint of orange flame along with his gloves as he spoke, warning them that he's ready to do anything to them if they'd answer him wrongly.

"Is that what you wish to hear last…"

Clouds dispersed out of the moon's way. Light traveled to the silhouette's sitting figure, unshadowing him from the black cloak of the night.

"…before you die?" a man with of almost the same age as the Cavallone Boss or perhaps is a year or two older than the latter was revealed. He has black brushed up hair with two short strands hanging on his forehead out-veiling a scar, assumed to be caused by a sharp object, just above his left eye. Coldness and bloodlust lingered on his pair off brown eyes. A bitter smile curved on his lips that looked as if he has seen too much death in his life that no normal person could ever imagine, "How sad."

"Answer me," Tsuna demanded.

"Of course," his conversant smirked as a silver metal flashed his sight, stopping it to get buried in his chest by a millisecond with his gloves.

"Tsu-kun really is cool!" Sakura squealed as she took back her weapon. She twirled to gain momentum and slashed her blades to him in a swift motion. A cloud of dust dispersed in the air as a crater formed in the pavement.

* * *

_SWOOSH!_

Hibari swung his right arm to his opponent's shoulder but the other only moved to the opposite side to avoid his tonfa.

"Tch," the head prefect slid to the older man's direction and strokes his pair of tonfas at every angle he could see as an opening in his opponents. However, though it may seem as he could see every part of the man's body unprotected, since he arrogantly had placed his hands in his pockets, Hibari can't even make a single land on the man.

"You've got skills. You're fast. You're attacks are fatal to normal people. You're fighting style is good however… You cannot defeat me so just go home child. You're not used to fight people who don't even need to fight you to beat you. Hmph, your recklessness and your unrestrained bloodlust are your biggest weakness. An illusionist could easily beat you," the man casually said while having a bored expression as he parry each of his attacks.

With each second passing by, Hibari was getting irritated but thrilled at the same time. As he slashed his arm again and aimed at his opponent's face.

A flash of surprise passed his face but was immediately turned to his composed self. Hibari paused as the man smirked.

"So, you're Vongola," the man pointed his sight to Hibari's finger that's filled by a ring, "The Cloud Guardian nonetheless."

"I'm not part of that herbivore's herd,"

The other raised an eyebrow on his statement then shrugged, "I believe your name would Hibari Kyoya."

Hibari narrowed his eyes with the mention of his name.

"They say you are the strongest guardian and you fit the role really well like of the first generation cloud guardian,"

"You don't know who I am,"

The older man took out a box and lighted his ring with his yellow flame. A pair of sais came out and was held in his wrinkled hands.

The man smirked, "Originally, it's Adrik who wanted to kill you to prove that he isn't the weakest of our group. But I really don't care neither about him nor of the group. They might want to rid the world of the mafia but my only purpose for cooperating with them now is to have revenge over the world's best hitman… but right now, I just have to deal with Vongola Decimo's strongest guardian."

* * *

A pouting Sakura was unveiled as the cloud of dust cleared their sight, almost like's she's whining as she picked her scythe from the rubbles sitting beside it. They followed her gaze upwards, as they studied Tsuna's floating form with his orange flame supporting him.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi you're the Tenth Boss of the Vongola,_che è il più forte della onorata società_ [1], and the_ capo di tutti capi_ [2]," said the person that was labeled as Ace as if mocking the future boss, "You wish to know who we are and our purpose…?"

They all then turned their attention to the man.

"Oi, Ace," the person behind Ace spoke, a tone of warning lingering on his call. Ace raised his hand in return to stop any of the man's protests.

Sakura the giggled, "Vin's been stood up." The person that they now have identified as Vin glared at the girl however she only returned a smile on him.

"It's alright Vin. They're just gonna die anyway and besides they are going to be the stepping stone of our plan so why not let them get informed," Ace stated with much confidence then his attention back to them, "We are the _Angelo Cremisi_… Crimson Angel."

"What kind of sick game are you playing at? After killing too many people, you dubbed yourselves as angels?" Tsuna muttered in disgust as the enemy's leader only laughed. Vin was going to attack him when Ace stopped him once more and his laughter ceased.

"Of course! We're going to be like of an angel that will rid the loathful mafia whom has RUINED so MANY lives for so MANY YEARS!" Ace now had an insane look in his face as he spoke and emphasizes some of his words with great intensity, "We'll taint ourselves with the delicate crimson blood for the sake of fulfilling our purpose."

"Bastards," Gokudera spat but Ace kept on smiling.

"Think of it as the world's rebirth. There'll be no more trouble or bloodshed after this. We'll be treated like angels maybe even gods that have saved them from a corrupted world caused by YOU and YOUR KIND," Ace pointed a finger directly at Tsuna with a mad and frustrated look on his face, "The first step to get rid of the mafia is by killing the Vongola Decimo, WHICH IS YOU!"

"Bossu," a look of worry filled Chrome's face then changed to determination and refusal to the enemy, having a sense of protectiveness as equal as Hayato's and Ryohei's at the moment.

"And what'll you accomplish by killing a single person such as me,"

"Can't think of a reason, Tsu-kun?" Sakura tilted her head sideward and had her forefinger in her lips.

"You're the heir of the _mafia bourgeoisie_, the only heir to succeed Nono, in fact. With you dead, Vongola will grow into panic and that will be the cause of your famiglia's downfall!

"Allied famiglia's would get stepped on by rival famiglia's for living under your wings, as they will then take this chance to be on top. And every famiglia will fight over this and eliminate each other. They'll kill each other! And for those who survives… We'll wipe them out like the ants that they are!"

Sakura squealed at their leader's speech, getting pumped up all of a sudden. And the next thing they knew, she've already attacked Tsuna once more.

* * *

Gokudera watched in awe as his Boss moved faster than before and in a fluid motion that he could only see in professional hitmen.

Metals clung in the ground and caught his attention, tearing off his sight to his Boss now combating the girl. He spotted weight bands lying there innocently on the spot where the brunette once stood. He went to examine it and have concluded that each must have a kilogram weight. Counting the bands, he found 16 of them.

_C-Could it be that… J-Juudaime's been wearing this the whole time?_ His mind screamed as astonishment drowned him.

He took his gaze back to the pair in combat. The girl's smile has now been wiped off of her face as she now concentrated on the fight. She swept with the grip of her scythe on his Boss' feet but the brunette jumped upward to avoid it with his hand pressed against her arm while his feet and body hung on midair.

Sakura clicked her tongue and threw the grip of the scythe to the shaft with her other hand from behind and positioned it to give Tsuna a fatal blow on his chest.

Gokudera felt himself tensed up until Tsuna flicked his hand up so his body would go on a higher altitude. With the scythe's pole at her back and the blade in the open at front, Tsuna landed his feet on the blade's ridge, stopping at it as if it were the ground. Indigo flames soon flowed on the blade. Tsuna then moved out and landed on the floor.

The two paused for a moment, but a second later they fought once again. Tsuna pushed his fist to a punch to his opponent so the other spun the shaft and pushed his arms out of the way, catching his guard wide open. Tsuna realized this, so he rotated his body and kicked her side. Sakura, being the first to receive a blow, got a bit aggravated to this then licked the red liquid escaping her lips.

"Tsu-kun," her body swayed as if she was drunk then stood still and smiled once again, "I think… I'm falling more in love with you!"

"Stupid twisted woman!" Gokudera growled but he was easily ignored.

A snort from the Haiden's entrance then took his attention. His expression turned into his usual scowl and whisked his eyes to the orange-head.

"This is boring," the man rolled his steel black eyes and kicked a lone pebble in the ground as if to prove his point, "Hey, Ace. Lemme in a fight or I'll fall asleep, damn it!"

"You're an idiot, Adrik. So stay still," Vin answered for their leader.

"Vin, go get the other one," Ace said, which was immediately answered by a nod by the said person.

"Hey, wasn't that my job? I've already took one of the Decimo's girls so why don't you just lemme handle all the kidnapping since I don't think I'll be on any fight any time soon," the person named as Adrik complained.

Vin and Ace ignored him as the former made his move to leave but a red and green missile-like projectile went passed his way. Vin moved his eye to his direction as Gokudera loaded a dynamite on the skull-filled-cannon strapped on his left arm and pointed it to Vin.

"As Juudaime's right hand man, I won't allow you to continue!"

The two exchanged sharp gazes with one another, each refusing to give up on their glaring contest.

"Finally!"

The two tore their eye-to-eye contact as Adrik charged at Gokudera and took out a box. He lit his ring and inserted the red flame into the box.

Gokudera was quick to react and activated his Sistema CAI. He used the shield to block the enemy's attack as he took sight of a gun on the other's hand. The Italian bomber jumped to the storm disc and sped up to Adrik's back and fired. The orange-head twisted his body to avoid and shot him bullets reinforced by storm flames. This exchange continued until his breath and moved his way to the enemy's seemingly-right-hand-man of the other group. Just as he noticed a set of bullets coming straight at his way, a pair of fists countered these and a roar filled the air, "EXTREME!"

"You finally did something smart, lawn head," he snorted with a smirk as he and Ryohei got side-to-side.

"I EXTREMELY confused as to what's going on right now but I do know that I have to fight!"

"Tch. You're really stupid… but not that bad…"

"Now hurry up and do what you EXTREMELY have to do,"

With that Gokudera gave him a nod and chased after Vin.

* * *

"Chrome…" Reborn called.

Chrome turned her sight to the arcobaleno as the baby jumped up to her shoulder.

"Can you keep an illusion that can conceal this whole ordeal from the whole town?" the baby hitman asked, hoping for her answer a yes, "I'm assuming that even Hibari's in a fight right now."

"The Cloud man?" she asked.

Reborn nodded and continued his speech, "With this much of a ruckus, the whole town would go into panic if they'd know what's really happening right now. It'll be a big mess if that happens."

She fell silent for awhile, giving things a thought, _This is going to be really difficult to handle and it'll take too much flame… but Boss needs my help and all the rest are giving their best… I'm the only one not doing anything. I have to help them, in any way I can._

"I have to get to the center of things then Reborn-san. Can you tell me where that would be?"

Reborn smiled and nodded to her to follow his gaze.

_Osu! I have to give my best as well!_

* * *

Tsuyoshi was cleaning up his shop when heard faint blasts and from afar. He went outside and looked around but sees nothing. The faint sounds he've been hearing also subsided even the dangerous aura that he has felt since awhile before the faint sounds came.

"What's going on?" he asked himself then, he went back inside and looked up to his son's room.

* * *

Spinning her weapon, Sakura lounged herself to her opponent, focusing on tearing him apart. She spun the scythe above her head then bash it off to Tsuna's right but he jumped back to avoid this. She spun it again and tried to hit his left this time but he knocked it off to the side and held it tight in his one hand. She then pulled the blade backward to hit his back but he quickly let go of it, flew up and back flipped up a few meters in her front.

She swung her weapon to her side and smirked, "Ne~ Tsu-kun! You're just perfect for me! You're so strong and cool! You're cute too and really charismatic. You're my ideal man~"

She took the scythe into her one hand so the pole would be along her forearm. She twisted her wrist and twirled. She pointed the tip of the blade to his stomach. He barely dodged this and received a scratch.

"You say that but your act the opposite of which,"

They both paused with one still on his fighting stance and the other had an almost innocent look of naivety.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"As if attacking me or more like trying to kill me is a sign of affection,"

"…hmm… do you wanna know why I'm doing what I'm doing?" she grinned at him and snickered, "Well you see… I promised myself that when I would finally meet my true love and soul mate~ **I'll kill HIM!**"

With her last words, she attacked him once more. She had a mad look on her eyes that could send others chills down their spines and froze right on their spot.

"Why?" he cooly asked in between dodging and punching the girl.

"'Cause~ I don't want anyone else to have you and that…" she sped up to him and swung the blade to hook his neck but he ducked so he'd be behind the blade. He held his one hand to the shaft and the other on her arm so she'd be locked within his grip. However, confidence still remained in her despite her situation.

The surroundings begun to get filled by mist.

"…**you showed out late!**"

Her last statement startled him and has loosened his grip. Spikes came out of the scythe's pole even to her grip. Blood dripped down her hands. She then lifted her hand and watched her blood gush out her wounded flesh. She brought it to her mouth and licked it, enjoying the taste of her own blood touch her tongue and teeth.

It disgusted him. Then, the spikes retreated back inside the pole, so it wouldn't cause more blood spilling on her body.

She repeated that to her other hand but this time looked at him as she licked each drop of blood. She was even smiling as she did the most unnatural thing a girl could do.

As she got finished with the blood sucking, she continued to look at him. At the same time, the surroundings cleared up and the temperature got up. They were suddenly right inside a volcano's mouth, full of hot lava. He flew up as he felt his feet heat up.

"You see Tsu-kun… There's this fake lover that I got some time ago and I thought he really loved me but it turned out he was only toying with me~ I even thought he was my one and true love… just like you!" she slashed the blade up his front.

"I gave him everything he wants but one day I see him with another girl! The nerve! I was even prettier than that girl… but that's not the most stupid and irritating thing… this girl was a friend of mine and she, the apparent real girlfriend of his," she rolled her eyes as if she careless, "dared him to pretend to be my lover then dump me like a rag! **She's such a bitch**! Can you believe that?"

She stroked the staff to his knees so he jumped up. The spikes again showed up, but this time around needles were shot at him, and the same at hers. This confused him, _Why is she letting herself get hit by her own attacks? She doesn't even seem to mind… Is she insane?_

"So right when I got them both alone… **I killed them!**" she laughed manically as more blood dripped from different parts of her body from the needles that were shot at her.

"They were both crying for mercy when I started to slash their bodies with my scythe~ Pity. They both looked so good with the blood spluttered all over them. Maybe that's the reason why they were together and I learned that they're soul mates! So like them~ me and you are soul mates and therefore we have to die together with so much blood spilling all over us! It'll be a master piece that everyone will adore and love forever! So let's kill each other like the lovers that we are ne, Tsu-kun!"

The lava around them boiled up and Tsuna began sweating, _This is just an illusion. I can't let myself get fooled by this. But her illusions are strong. Damn, she really is crazy. Just what are these people thinking? Are they all like this?_

* * *

"Oi, Arcobaleno… aren't you going to do anything?" Ace asked as he sat so casually face-to-face with the world's greatest hitman.

"Hmph. Don't underestimate my student. He's already been through a lot of fights and I'm sure he'll be able to defeat that girl. And so as the rest of his guardians,"

"Hmm… quite confident now, aren't you? Or is the real reason because Nono has ordered you not to interfere?" Ace smirked as Reborn narrowed his eyes. The raven haired man laughed and looked at him amused, "Let me tell you this. As confident as you are with the Decimo and his famiglia's strength, I have the same confidence with my comrades… well, except for the Japanese girl. She'll probably just kill herself along with the Decimo. She's good but she's crazy, that's why I never gave her any box weapon to begin with. I'm still on my right mind you know. However, the others aren't as pitiful as she is. In fact, your Cloud guardian is in quite a danger."

"What do you mean?"

"Your Cloud may be the strongest guardian the Decimo have but Dalmazio Lombardi is a different story,"

Reborn's eyes widened a bit then turned to a fierce glare.

"Oh, so you recognize him after all. He'd be so happy that you remembered him. And I think we both know how strong he is…"

* * *

Hibari panted with both his hands laid limply on his sides. He lifted his arm and wiped the blood off his lips. He cursed as he looked at his pocket where his box weapon resides. He couldn't use it due to the small space he have for the battle. The houses and infrastructures would get destroyed if he uses this plus the peace would get disrupted when people would run out of their houses as their homes' collapse. It would cause great mayhem.

_Herbivores,_ he thought and lighted his tonfas with cloud flames once again.

"Can you still keep up?" Dalmazio taunted.

Hibari charged up to his opponent and attacked. His movements got sloppy and less effective with his beat-up body. Exhaustion was also adding up to the equation. And he was not at all happy about it. He felt like cold water was suddenly splashed to him to wake him up from a dream.

"Anou~ sempai… do you need any help?"

* * *

**A/N:** Whoops! Cliff hanger…! And Chrome didn't have much participation in this chapter, did she now? But no worries, I'm not a fan of a weak looking Chrome… tee hee, I've got plans for her.

Anyway… I originally planned on updating yesterday, 'cause it was my birthday but I wasn't able to finish it. Anyway, I know… the box weapons should be rings now 'cause the cannon showed that Tsuna's and the rest of the gangs' box weapons are all transformed into rings but hush now my beloved readers… I've got an explanation to that which wouldn't be up in awhile but there really is. Same with Seiji's brother thingy… its gonna be used in awhile as well. So if you guys have anything to say at all just click the review button just below. C'mon don't be shy… I don't bite but Hibari does so… Review or Hibari will bite you to death~ tee hee

[1] _che è il più forte della onorata società_ – 'which is the strongest of the honored society'. The Sicilian mafia, which I assumed that the Vongola mafia family originated at Sicily, Italy 'cause that's where mafia started, is known to be the honored society.

[2] _capo di tutti capi _– 'Boss of Bosses', that's what the media refer to mafia bosses of the strongest mafias.

PS: Sorry if there are grammatical errors and stuffs there that quite an eyesore… I haven't reread it yet 'cause I'm damn sleepy now. I'll do the corrections tomorrow. But right now, I have to have a shot eye. It's night time here right now... so bare with it until I wake up in the morning and edit things.

PPS: I think all that needs to be corrected are now all covered. But if I had missed a few errors in spelling. I apologize for that.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Etou~ it's been awhile ne~ and I know I promised to have this updated last week but my brain was kidnapped by school exams *sob* *sob* 3 long exams on my major subjects consecutively! It was life wrecking! And it has to be right before vacation~ I'm sorry… and after that hell week I got lazy so it's just now that I've been able to update… GOMEN NASAI!

But anyway… HAPPY NEW YEAR to yah'll~

* * *

Famiglia

Chapter 11

12/31/2010

* * *

_"Can you still keep up?" Dalmazio taunted._

_Hibari charged up to his opponent and attacked. His movements got sloppy and less effective with his beaten-up body. Exhaustion was also adding up to the equation. And he was not at all happy about it. He felt like cold water was suddenly splashed to him to wake him up from a dream._

_"Anou~ sempai… do you need any help?"_

A voice rung in the cold air caught both men's attention. With a side glance, a figure with a short black hair carrying a shinai on his back came to their sight.

"Yamamoto Takeshi," Hibari muttered in distaste as he glared at the said person, "Wandering the streets in the middle of the night… are you here to disturb the peace as well?"

Yamamoto blinked and raised an eyebrow, puzzled by the other's statement. He then took in the tattered appearance of their school's head prefect. It was a lot worse than how it seemed from the distance. Dried blood loitered like a mold on the bruises and wounds all over the prefect's body. There were purple blotches at some parts that are fading to black.

His eyes narrowed to the person he assumed to be the assailant. And compared to the prefect, he's in a much better state with less bruises and purple smudges. Taking his shinai to his hand, Yamamoto drew the object in a fast motion, revealing its sharp blade.

The older male gazed at the newly arrival in stride, as if not caring of the threatening aura Yamamoto emitted.

"Hibari-sempai, you seem to be quite in a situation right now," drawing his katana in a fighting stance, implying an offer of assistance to his comrade.

"You are not stealing my prey, herbivore," Hibari hissed and stubbornly lifted his pair of tonfas. However, despite his statement there was a hint of acceptance in his tone. He can't say he wanted assistance, it would wound his pride. But in his situation right now, he can't chose to be stubborn to this subject of succor; so, despite his sentence he gave out a hint of agreement, "I'll have to bite you to death later on."

"In that condition, you still think you can defeat me Cloud Guardian?" Dalmazio positioned himself to face the two teens with his nonchalant face. He eyed the ring that shone on the swordsman's finger and started acknowledging him as an opponent.

A moment of calculation between the trio before it begun.

As if an imaginary gun was fired, the race has begun. A scream of blades and steel covered the air, a performance of a perfect battle-dance. It didn't matter if it was two against one for that one individual were as skilled as the two combined could be.

It was a fight for more than just winning. It was duel for survival and pride.

Dalmazio stepped to his side to avoid Hibari's tonfa. A shadow loomed from behind him. He turns to his side, to face Yamamoto halfway and to stop the prefect's attack with a hand but only to find himself backing off when he noticed the katana being dropped below and pushed up. It caused him a graze on his right cheek. Wiping the blood off with his fingers, he smirked to the two, "I believe I have underestimated the two of you. Perhaps I must begin to pay attention."

Hibari glared dangerously to their enemy however it didn't affect the man. Dalmazio isn't just some thug from around the alley after all. He's an experienced hitman. He used to be in rivalry in terms of skill and strength with the now famous sun arcobaleno. If he hadn't been defeated so easily by that baby five years ago, he may still have that glorious respect everyone in the mafia could give him. But he was defeated so badly that day that all that respect changed to disgust and disenchantment. Apparently, the thin line he thought as their difference was actually a huge gap.

Dalmazio firmly gripped his pair of sais, unsatisfied by the bitter memory. The ring in his middle finger flared with sun flames. The flames gracefully danced its way to the weapons' blades.

Dalmazio smirked, signaling them to attack. Hibari and Yamamoto lunged themselves. The katana holder slashed for the man's neck but Dalmazio evaded it, taking a step back while swiftly tangling one of his sai's tine to the katana's blade. As the swordsman pulled back his katana, Hibari immediately acted by swinging his tonfas to the man simultaneously. As the prefect kept Dalmazio busy with his attacks, Yamamoto dropped his Shigure Kintoki and kicked it to Dalmazio's direction. Dalmazio sees this, and efficiently hooks the sais' tines to lock Hibari's tonfas and pushed the teen backwards with himself, dodging the flying katana all together. Yamamoto sped up to the man's back to catch his katana and positioned the blade forward then rushed to the occupied man. Hibari then twirled his weapon through his handle grip to get it off the sai. However, Dalmazio had purposely let Hibari's tonfas slip off so he'd be able to face Yamamoto. As the young swordsman charged to his enemy's way, the said enemy made no movement until Yamamoto reached the teen to let go of his weapon, as the other sai struck Yamamoto on the neck with its pommel. Yamamoto takes his hand back and falls back, fortunately evading the other's attack in a whim.

_Swoosh_

_Swoosh_

_Swoosh_

A whirling sound caught the pair's attention and sees Hibari twirling his tonfas with dangerous spikes hanging on a wire from the tonfas' end.

"Youths are becoming quite an interesting bunch nowadays… hmm… Have the world's best hitman taught you all of these?" Dalmazio smirked with an eerie glint in his eyes.

"The kid's really good, and did have taught me and the others at some point…" Yamamoto said then panted to catch the lack of oxygen in his lungs before continuing, "But he didn't taught us everything… he left us to culture what we learned from him with our own sweat and blood."

The ring beside Yamamoto's vongola ring lit up. A swallow came into view, surrounded with blue flames. Yamamoto raised his katana. His eyes sharpened. The swallow flew around them, and it begun to rain.

A glint of surprise flashes through Dalmazio's expression by a second but falls back into a solemn expression by the next.

"A box animal? Without even needing to be stored in a box… Tell me," Dalmazio eyes Yamamoto suspiciously, "Where did you get that, young Vongloa Rain Guardian?"

* * *

Ryohei clenched his fists tightly as he dodged the series of bullets heading his way. He tried to charge right to his opponent but Adrik never gave him a chance, rampaging with what seemed to be an infinite rain of ammunitions.

The orange-head smirked on his end, "Why don't you just STAY STILL so we can get this over with… huh?"

"No way TO THE EXTREME!" he roared and punched the unavoidable bullets, "EXTREME WORKOUT!"

Adrik twitched and a scowl reached his face, suddenly getting annoyed, "Stop the 'extremes' already! It's beyond irritating!"

"EXTREME is my EXTREME motto! It's EXTREMELY EXTREME! So I can't stop saying it TO THE EXTREME!" he returned as he looked out for any openings.

"PESKY BASTARD! You're even more difficult to tolerate than that retarded bitch! That psycho keeps on talking to some creepy voodoo doll every night and she always seem to be fascinated with blood that she even tries to taste every one of her victims' but AT LEAST THE BITCH AIN'T LOUD ABOUT IT!"

"I EXTREMELY didn't understand a thing you said!"

"Just don't move and I'll make you understand, numbskull!"

Ryohei leaned to his left as a bullet ran past below his ear and another scraping his arm. After all, fighting long range attacks would be difficult for fighters that excel to arm to arm combats such as himself. However, like of what his instincts are telling him, he just has to find an opening and the right timing to assail. He doesn't have to be a genius to figure that out.

_Right there,_ Ryohei narrowed his eyes to his opponent as he concentrated on making the hit.

"Gotcha," Adrik grinned as if he was sure of his win and pointed his weapon to Ryohei.

"Maximum Canon!"

"Bremya puli dozhdem! [1]"

* * *

Gokudera chased Vin as fast he could, and judging from the direction they're pacing to, he could pretty much guess what their enemies are up to.

_Stupid girl, always getting in danger, _cursing under his breath, he increased his speed and overtook the blonde individual. Gokudera smirked as Vin stopped on his track and turned his attention to him. He pointed his weapon to his enemy and silence surrounded the two. The blonde seemed to be observing and calculating Gokudera's abilities, then interest piqued to the individual's sharp eyes.

"I believe you wish to stop me from getting into my destination," Vin's voice echoed into the night, "Am I correct?"

"Damn straight," he answered, confidence ringing in his tone.

"Very well…" Vin took out a box shaded in black and blue then lifted his other hand. Gokudera noticed the two rings enveloping Vin's fingers, with one lighted with rain flames. Inserting those flames to the box, a black slender shaft come out of view, "Let's finish this quickly, I never have liked long delays."

"Don't talk like you're going to defeat me just like that," annoyance sparked into the silverette's face as the other paid no worry to this but instead took another box and lit his other ring.

Gokudera's eyes widened in surprise as a giant silhouette appeared beside the blonde. Looking at it more closely, a figure of a snake formed from the silhouette, "What the…! Tsuchinoko! Serpente Tempesta! [2]" Sparks then surrounded the path it crawled into, "No… wait-"

"Storm serpent? I haven't heard of such a thing," Vin said, casually standing there, "And as you can see, the flames I used is lightning and not storm… so Lighting Serpent would have been more appropriate to say."

Gokudera bit his lower lip; _Verde probably had this box animal based on that Serpente Tempesta… Tch. That crazy arcobaleno is really getting in my nerves._

_I'll blow that Verde up when I get my hands on him. But before that…_

"I'm going to beat the crap out of you so take this!"Gokudera fires his storm rockets, covering it with his sun flames. The rockets sped up to his opponent. Vin then spun his Bo with rain flames wrapped around it, and flame-empowered-water splashed out, weakening the bout.

Pissed, Gokudera fired at him once more.

"Hmph. Those rocket's acceleration have an unpredictable pace, it would have been quite dangerous to encounter it, however those rockets would eventually have to hit a certain target," Vin spun his weapon once again and stopped the assault, "That makes it easy to counter when it's used against something that could cover the whole area the rockets would proceed to… and that makes is useless."

"If you're so smart then try countering this, bastard!" Gokudera shot the cloud covered projectiles. The projectile spread out in a tree-diagram like fashion. He smirked as Vin withdrew his bo and jumped out fast to avoid the dispersion.

Vin halted in a good distance away from the advancing widespread projectile. The silverette then raised his eyebrow, seeing no logical reason as to why the individual must stop.

The illogical act was then cleared up when the lightning serpent sheltered its master and opened its mouth to consume the projectiles coming its way.

"Tch. Smartass…" he cursed as the snake swallowed his attack. He then calls out his own box animal to match his enemy's, "Uri."

"Nyar~" Gokudera fed Uri with his sun flames and it grew out of its cub form, "Rawr!"

"Oi, Uri…" he says to gain the said Leopard's attention. Uri makes a growling sound to affirm its agreement to him, "Alright, let's do this!"

Uri charged off to Vin but gets blocked by the snake. The two box animals then fought as its owners dueled at the same time.[3] Projectiles of different flames beamed across until Uri's cry of pain resounded in the air. The snake has bitten the leopard and set off a charge from its fangs beneath the leopard's skin.

"Uri!" Gokudera called out as the said box animal got thrown off to a wall, creating a crater-like dent. Uri answers him with a roar as it picked itself up and tried to shake off the shock. Goudera smirks in approval of his box animal's strength. Uri jumped off to another roof to continue its assault to the snake. Lifting its paws, Uri strikes the snake's skin. However, as it came into contact, Uri suddenly stopped moving.

"What the-"

"The lighting serpent could paralyze anything it touches making its defense impenetrable. And adding its electrocuting abilities in its fangs… both of its defense and offense are strong, making my box animal the perfect weapon."

"Perfect box animal my ass…" Gokudera snarled.

"Your box animal is already incapacitated-"

"Don't underestimate my Sistema CAI…!"

Gokudera fires another projectile-covered-flames as the lighting serpent was about to attack Uri. The box animal backed off and the projectile continued its way to Uri's direction.

"Eliminating your box animal would not help you win against me,"

"That's what you think… Uri!"

Vin raised his eyebrow as the projectile hit Uri. A cloud of dust covered the said box animal. It was silent for a while and they waited to see what has happened to the leopard.

Gokudera smirked as the dust cleared out and revealed his box animal, all fired up. Vins' eyes narrowed as he inspected the said animal, trying to detect any logical explanation to the result.

"Sun flames," Gokudera answers as if knowing what's on his opponent's mind.

A scowl reached the blonde's face, "You used the sun flames abilities to activate your box weapon's cells. But that won't be enough; the cells lost wouldn't be replaced easily."

Vin smirked.

"Don't think so lowly of me," Gokudera loaded his cannon and pointed it to Vin whom have positioned his bo for defense, "That shot wasn't just sun flames… but I don't think you'll have to know that 'cause you're going to face your end here… Flame Thunder!"

"Roar!"

_BOOM!_

A loud blast filled the air.

* * *

_An illusionist that's also well-honed in combat… just like Mukuro, _Tsuna thought to himself as he dodged Sakura's attacks. He was observing her movements really carefully along with the surroundings. He could pretty much predict her actions now that he have calmed his mind and focused on their duel at hand.

Sakura slashed the blade of her scythe to his neck. Tsuna responded as he ducked and kneeled on the ground. He caught the scythe's shaft just below its blade. He looked straight into his opponent's mad eyes and body with needles still darted on her skin. Blood dripped on those small wounds. Tsuna could see her twinge for a second because of this but gave no other attention to this. He thought she's been through this estate often.

"Ne~ Tsu-kun! Do you love me now?" she asked and laughed. Tsuna did not respond instead he averted his sight to his right where the lava flowed. And surprisingly enough the temperature isn't as high as he thought it would.

_I see… _he told himself after thinking for a while. His gaze returned to Sakura's form as she stopped laughing and pushed a button on the grip. Already knowing this trick, Tsuna took back his hand and kicked his heel to the girl's chin. Sakura backed off, pissed.

"Why don't you answer me, Tsu-kun?" she continued with a disgustingly overly sweet tone with a killer's face.

Tsuna then went to her; he sighed and caught her wrist with her arm now on his back as the brunette elbowed her from behind. Sakura parried below but can't move any further as Tsuna have locked her arm to her back. He twisted her wrist so her grip would loosen to her weapon. Sakura snorted when her hand dropped the scythe.

The clang caused by the scythe seemed to have clicked something on to Sakura.

Sakura's eyes darkened in an angry manner as the lava boiled. Tsuna kicked the scythe afar as he noticed her other hand reaching for it. Then, suddenly, the ground shook as if the volcano was about to erupt. Tsuna was surprised for a minute until he heard her laugh. And soon, the surrounding lava burst upward around them. Tears begun to spill on the girl's eyes, still continuing to laugh.

_I can feel it… the difference between her illusions and Mukuro's… No… the difference between herself from Mukuro, _he corrected himself, _she's weaker than he is… and any other illusionists we've encountered. She can't keep her illusions strong while in combat. Her concentration and skill is far from being at par with Mukuro. It's only her agility that has kept me from thinking she's really strong. It's part of the illusion… because in fact she's nothing but a novice… and really insane._

"_**Bossu!"**_

A familiar voice called out in his mind.

"Chrome?"

"_**I'll free you from this illusion you're in. It's quite too weak so I can handle it well,"**_ she continued relaying her words to his mind.

"Yes, I've noticed it as well," he answered.

"_**I know you could get out of that really easy but please let me do it for you, Bossu. I want to help. I'll take care of her so please hurry and rescue Kyoko-chan,"**_

He mentally nodded. Soon, the whole scenery fuzzed. Sakura noticed this as well and looked left to right in panic.

"W-What's happening?"

Sakura's irises shrank as her eye lids widened, "Who's interfering with my illusions?" Their background is fading into black and back into its original setting. Sakura closed her eyes and shook her head, "No! No! NO! STOP IT! NO!" She struggled to keep her illusions but Chrome was winning fast against it.

As the background went back to reality, Tsuna found Chrome standing out not far from them with a determined face.

"Bossu, you could go now. I can handle this," the one-eyed girl declared. He muttered a thank you to her before leaving the pair behind.

"Oi! Where do you think you're going?" Sakura screamed but was interrupted when fire surged up from the ground in front of her.

Tsuna glanced back only see Sakura facing Chrome with so much anger on her expression. Chrome sent him an assuring nod and he blasted his way back to the shrine.

* * *

Chrome gripped her trident as she continued keeping the illusion of a peaceful night to the townspeople of Namimori and guarding herself for any possible attack the girl in front of her could do.

"_**Kufufu… do you need any help Chrome?**_" Mukuro's voice crept into her mind.

"Don't worry Mukuro-sama, I can handle this myself. I'll be enough as an opponent to her so you can just rest Mukuro-sama…" she answered.

"_**That's my cute little Chrome… kufufu…"**_

She can't keep on relying onto anyone any longer, she knew as much. She has to establish her true strength to others as well so she could be counted as someone who could be relied on as well. She does not want to be some weak girl hiding and waiting till someone would come to help that can't even throw a rock at the enemy to save herself. _No!_ She will not be a burden!

Chrome twirled the trident in her hand as Sakura launched with the scythe she picked up along the way to her. Sakura swung her weapon to Chrome's stomach but Chrome anticipated this and locked the scythe in between her trident's blade and pinned it to the ground.

Frustration etched into Sakura's face as she tried to take the scythe back.

"Sumimasen… but I have to defeat you for Bossu," Chrome said as an owl settled to her shoulder. Fear formed into Sakura's eyes as she looked at the owl's right eye.

"Ahhh!"

* * *

Gokudera hissed as he lit a cigarette on his mouth while looking at his beaten up opponent, relieved he was able to assure the family's safety even though he wouldn't admit loudly that the others are also part of the family he and his Boss both cares for, "And to think I got so worked up with this arrogant bastard."

He smirked as Uri went to him, "Good work… here."Gokudera lit up three of his rings and offered it to leopard.

_It wasn't just sun flames, you dolt, _he observed Vin,_ I mixed cloud flames as well so the cells would propagate faster, then I added rain flames to control the cell being generated. It's as simple as 1+1… hmph." _Gokudera blew out the smoke as he too Uri back to his ring.

The silhouette turned to his right when he heard running steps on that direction. Suspicion flared in his mind as he went into his stance in case it's an enemy. He glared as the individual turned on the corner.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Gokudera groaned at Seiji, hardly disappointed and pleased by the appearance of the said individual.

"What the hell do you care? You can't tell me what to do. I want to get revenge for Nii-sama and you can't stop me!" the other replied. The two glared to each other. Gokudera was worked up for no particular reason he just doesn't want to lose to the other's glared.

Someone coughed. They both turned their sight to Vin.

"You still wanna fight?" Gokudera spat his cigarette and held his cannon, ready to fire if the blonde would make any shady movement.

"No, I accept defeat," Vin simply answered.

He put down his cannon and acknowledged the declaration, seeing that the man could not do as much as to move.

"Oi!" Gokudera called onto Seiji, remembering the said person's presence, "If you want revenge then do it for all I care. But I bet you don't even know who to get revenge with."

Seiji frozed.

"Tch. Moron," the silverette continued, not minding the twitch on Seiji's right eye, instead he went to Vin and kicked the injured's side, "Oi! You know what happened to Takeda Hojo?"

The blonde gave him a blank face and his eyebrow raised up in question with his uninterested expression despite asking it himself but did not comment instead he nodded, receiving a painful wave from his body.

"You killed the guy?" Gokduera continued his interrogation and crouched down.

"Hmph… No," the blonde answered.

"Then, who-" Seiji begun but was interrupted as the blonde continued.

"He's a former ally well at least he was until Sakura killed him and took his weapon, the scythe, since Ace didn't gave her any,"

"Ally…?"

Gokudera raised an eyebrow to Seiji's gloomy figure. Dread and confusion was written all over his classmate. He was sure the guy was asking himself so many questions, all with 'why' etched. Since Seiji mentioned that his brother was living peacefully, he must be shocked. The thought of having a brother who become a victim, suddenly being replaced by a killer's face gave a blank stature to Seiji.

_Sucks to be him, _the Italian bomber thought as he let his classmate think for himself. He leaned on the wall nearby and lit another cigar. He glanced at Seiji's shocked which irritated him nonetheless making him cringe and speak up, "Move on! The guy's dead already. That's quite common in this world; if you're weak you die. Just be thankful that it ain't you."

"**HOW DARE YOU**-" anger encrypted on Seiji's voice but he simply blocked it with his calm voice.

"I've been through worse. And besides I'm not the one who killed your brother so don't lash your frustration on me, asshole," Gokudera stated while looking at the sky. An orange blare flew off in the sky, and he smirked, "That was Juudaime…" He tilted his head a bit to point it to Seiji, "Juudaime was fighting that bitch a while ago and seeing him going back to the shrine means that that lunatic's done for... which also means you fucking owe Juudaime for finishing the bitch for you so stop bitching."

* * *

"KYOKO!"

Tsuna followed the voice that interrupted the eerie air as he flew in the sky. He smiled as a familiar white-haired boxer was making his way to the top of the stairs leading to the shrine caught his sight. He smiled softly, feeling relieved to know that his sun guardian was safe.

He looked right back ahead of him as he tried to compress the growing worry he has to the others. But he learned through all he've been through that all he could do was to focus at the enemy at hand and trust that everyone else would be fine. He hardened his expression with resolve.

He took away all other thoughts as he landed in front of the haiden and glared at the man, who caused so much commotion, back at those eyes filled with bloodlust. The cold night breeze passing through had only made the atmosphere more intensified.

"OHH! SAWADA! You're EXTREMELY here!" The boxer's voice resounded through the air and broke the silence between the two. But even so, the tensed-up atmosphere only increased with his arrival.

Ryohei looked around then between the two, a bit confused of the situation but with Tsuna's expression, he mustered as much as a conclusion that he shouldn't move until he was told so.

"Onii-chan," Tsuna called, finally speaking after a while that had seemed like forever, without looking at his conversant, "Please go get Kyoko and make sure she'll be safe."

"I was about to do just that even if you don't tell me…! EXTREME!"

Ryohei jogged passed Tsuna and Ace as he went into the haiden.

Tsuna prepared himself to attack, just in case Ace would prevent the boxer from going for his sister. However, the said man made no move nor gave no interest into assuming his hostage instead he only got up from sitting in the stairs and closed in the distance between them so they'd be only a few meters away from each other.

"I believe you came here for my head," Ace smirked but with coldness streaming on his tome.

"And I believe you won't be giving that up so easily to me," Tsuna answered back with the same tenacity lingering in his voice.

"Of course," the black haired man said, "So… shall we begin?"

* * *

Three figures barely stood in front of one another. Each was panting harder than they normally do. They've fought with all their strength in order to have the satisfaction of completing their desired outcome.

Yamamoto fell to his knees as exhaustion covered his every limb. The cold air wasn't helping at all to ease his tired figure, mixing with the sweat covering his body it gave him a numbing chill lulling him to unconsciousness. He leaned over his katana while fighting the drowsiness he's feeling.

"Back off, Yamamoto Takeshi... I can't allow you to interfere with my fight any longer," Hibari held off his body in a stance in front of the said person, "I will be the one to give the final blow… so back off."

Yamamoto would have protested with his sempai's statement but he knows he couldn't move even if he'd want to. Also, he knew this is Hibari's way of telling him to sit down and rest and let him finish the job.

He released his breath through his mouth and let himself sit on the ground completely, spreading out his lower body in a relaxed position, then grinned, "Hai hai sempai… ganbatte![4]"

He held his weapon, that has now turned back into a shinai, tight as he watched the conclusion of their fight. He could see the other two lock each gazes with one another, analyzing each's movement and waiting till on of them makes a move. Their breaths sounding in a rhythmical pattern… their bodies tensing up for the final assault, holding their remaining energy and pride til their last breath.

"Hmph. So, it has come to this,"

Yamamoto didn't need to turn his sight to know who the speaker beside him is. He kept quiet and gave no comment to the baby hitman's statement. Reborn at the same time didn't expect a reply from him, knowing that the climax is breaking to the end.

They both watched as the prefect and his opponent charged at each other at the same time. As the two reached one another's attack, they both halted. It was hard to know who've actually won as none of them moved. Though Dalmazio seemed to be in quite an advantage as he had one sai hooked a tonfa however, a moment later Dalmazio's grip loosened and his sais fell from his hands… the echoing clang it made became the victor's announcement.

"I though as much," Reborn smirked and petted his partner with is petite hands. It was only because he wanted to see himself how it would end why he was here. After he heard Dalmazio's name he was surprised for he hadn't seen or heard of the man for ages but he wasn't that worried for he knows the family he had helped build for his student was strong and has surpassed so many in this time even with someone with such as an experience as his former rival.

"Kid…" Hibari started, satisfaction ringing from it, without looking back at the addressed person, "Are you here to fight me?"

"Maybe some other time, I'm tired," the bay replied even though it was not really him who was drained.

Hibari followed a nod.

"Chairman," Kusakabe reported, appearing right beside his leader out of the blue.

"Clean this up," Hibari ordered and slowly walked away from the scene as if nothing happened even with his battered figure.

"Yes, Chairman!" was Kusakabe's immediate response.

Yamamoto grinned wider as the rest of their school's disciplinary committee begun piling up and fixing everything. A few from the Momokyokai headquarters' slowly went out from their hiding place and observed the battlefield from a moment ago. It was almost like they were statues with their stunned expressions. Yamamoto shook his head then turned his attention to Reborn.

"Hey, kid… How's Tsuna?" he asked.

Reborn tugged the brim of his fedora closer to his eyes, overshadowing half of his face.

"That student of mine…"

_Somewhere near the shrine, a brunette stood with eyes and forehead flaring in an orange hue looking down at a beaten up figure. Slowly and calmly the blaze the brunette had diminished from sight._

"…has become stronger than he was,"

"I see," Yamamoto let himself lay on the cold pavement with his grin going even wider.

* * *

"Juudaime…" Gokudera said as he went to his boss's side, carelessly letting go of Vin's body from his hand behind, and looked straight at the unconscious enemy, "Reborn-san was right. I asked that guy over there and I have confirmed it." He pointed Vin with his eyes with his last sentence.

"Ah," the soon-to-be-tenth agreed, "It's weaker than the ones we had."

"It seemed that their box weapons were from the black market. Those were indeed Verde's rejected experiments… I've concluded as much when I saw the Lightning serpent. He must've sold these to the black market to escalate his funds for more research... Do you think he's planning something big?"

"I hope not… but following that man's mindset, it's probably something dangerous,"

"What's the plan, Juudaime?"

"Let's just ignore him for now, we still have no idea what to expect from him… and besides, I need to fix something first before taking action to anything else…"

"Hai!"

* * *

"O-Onii-chan…?" Kyoko muttered softly as she opened her eyes.

Ryohei smiled brightly at the sight of his now conscious sister. He has been watching and waiting for her to wake up. Tears begun to spurt out of his eyes as he ranted about how he was relieved she was alright. Kyoko smiled at him and tried to comfort him by saying her apologize for making him feel that way.

Kyoko sat up and looked around, examining her surroundings and trying to figure out what really happened. She went up and walked out of the haiden. Then, in the corner of her eyes, she could see figures standing at the back. She immediately recognized the brunette and the silver-haired Italian.

"Sasagawa-chan!" Seiji called her with relief. There's happiness in his tone but his eyes had sadness painted on. She couldn't stop but wonder what really happened.

She took back her attention to the pair at the back and focused on the brunette's expression. She couldn't see his face much because of the darkness but what she could see most evidently was that grim thin line on his mouth.

Tsuna noticed her gaze and turned to her. She immediately stopped, he breathing becoming ragged and her heart thumping so loud. He blinked at her then smiled sadly. He turned away from her and left.

_Tsuna... kun…_ was her only thought as he watched the brunette's retrieving back. She felt as if he was leaving her. She held onto her chest tightly with that thought. _Tsuna-kun… are you really going to-_

Her bangs covered her face, _Why am I sad when I think that he's going to part with me…?_

* * *

**A/N: ***wipes off sweat* that… was harder to write than what I originally thought. Anyway, give me your feedback guys…!

Thank you for using you time for reading my work~

[1] Bremya puli dozhdem- Onus bullet rain

[2] This was already mentioned in the series in the future arc, I can't rmember which chapter exactly and I'm getting lazy into searching for it... anyway, the storm serpent/ serpente tempesta has been stated as a relatively new box weapon created by box-maker koenig.

[3] I'm sorry, but I dunno how to describe the scene anymore nor elaborate the battle into details

**Chapter 10**

**Luvtuna27**- don't worry this won't be going into that… I'm not into that pairing much. Oh, and thank you by the way for loving my work.

**Clippit-** thank you~ I work hard on the battle scenes and thank you for appreciating the character I thought of myself~ and with the chapter read, I'm sure you already know who that person is now…

**SH01**- thank you~ encouragements always pumps me up!

**ChibiOtaku13-** aww~ you flatter me so much… you're such a kind person. Thank you!

**Myu Kuran-** ahaha… yay! I got you creeped out… well not in a bad way anyway. I just meant that I have successfully affected my readers with how I want them to…

**HaruKatsuki-** thank you for the greeting even though its already been months after I've said thank you to that…. And thank you for reading~

**Chapter 11 (A/N)**

**BlueRoseAngel061897-** thank you for waiting and I hope you enjoyed reading this~

**Hajimeru Rinko-** I'm glad it piqued you interest, it was much appreciated.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"_Famiglia_"

05/05/2011

* * *

"_Juudaime…" Gokudera said as he went to his boss's side, carelessly letting go of Vin's body from his hand behind, and looked straight at the unconscious enemy, "Reborn-san was right. I asked that guy over there and I have confirmed it." He pointed Vin with his eyes with his last sentence._

"_Ah," the soon-to-be-tenth agreed, "It's weaker than the ones we had."_

"_It seemed that their box weapons were from the black market. Those were indeed Verde's rejected experiments… I've concluded as much when I saw the Lightning serpent. He must've sold these to the black market to escalate his funds for more research... Do you think he's planning something big?"_

"_I hope not… but following that man's mindset, it's probably something dangerous,"_

"_What's the plan, Juudaime?"_

"_Let's just ignore him for now, we still have no idea what to expect from him… and besides, I need to fix something first before taking action to anything else…"_

"_Hai!"_

Tsuna paused and stood still. He closed his eyes, reminding himself of what he has decided to do. His eyelids lifted and observed the bloody mass he had done to the supposedly strong leader of their enemies. And apparently, the man wasn't that strong. Ace has been reduced to a pitiful state, which was almost unrecognizable if not for the distinguishable scar above his left eye.

He frowned at the scene.

The sight was disgusting. However, he was even more disgusted with himself as he has caused such peril to the said man. He has let his emotions run wild within him that has resulted to the bloodstained spectacle. That man has caused the deaths of many individuals may it be innocent or not, directly or indirectly; but it has to be done, be it against his morals. It pained him to have done such a thing for he is gentle by nature.

He gritted his teeth and curled his fists into a tight ball. It wasn't hard to see that he's pissed and frustrated no matter how much he tried to cover it. Then, he noticed a pair of eyes staring straight at him. His sight roamed to its source and found his dear friend, looking at him innocently.

_Kyoko-chan…_

He blinked as he came eye to eye with her. He just couldn't digest those worrying eyes were directed to him. Those amber eyes held so much care and worry on them, but beneath those emotions he could see a tinge of fear.

He smiled sadly at her.

_She's afraid. Is it because of me?_

He abruptly turned away and walked off to the shrine's exit. He couldn't take looking at her eyes anymore.

_She must have developed hatred and fear to me now. Who wouldn't? Anyone who has experienced those despicable things would naturally hate that person who had dragged them to that situation. And in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd find me as the subject of that hate; even though it wasn't really my fault. I never had wanted to be part of this side of the society in the first place but with the past circumstances I just couldn't let myself ignore it all._ He let out a dry laugh, earning a worried glance from his silver-headed friend. _**The irony of it all**. All I wanted was to protect them and keep them away from harm but what I produced were bigger problems that are becoming harsher than ever. Whether I detach myself from the mafia by running away or have myself to just acknowledge the given position such as being the next boss, it will all be the same. Either way, it's going to be one hell of a dangerous ride to all of us; the only difference between the two is that the latter gives me a better chance of attaining my original will. I guess the best answer I can come up with is to take the second option._

"I guess I'll just have to give up my selfish dream of a normal life," he said to himself as he ran a hand to his hair.

"Juudaime…" Gokudera patted his shoulder from behind, feeling sorry for him.

He stopped walking then peered from his shoulder, "I'm fine, Hayato. I'll be fine…" He returned his sight ahead of them and watched sun's beams brighten up the world, "Don't you agree how much the sunrise looks a lot more beautiful than the sunset?"

"…Ah,"

* * *

He took a deep breath.

Tsuna was standing in front of the door of his own house. He could hear some noise behind the door. He concluded it was his mom preparing breakfast from the kitchen.

_Now how should I explain this to mom,_ he looked at himself then sighed. He was sure anyone who'd see him now would freak out if they'd see his figure now. HE was a bloody mess. His shirt and pants were both tainted by a vile red liquid, even his hair had dried blood smudged all over. He looked like he had just murdered someone, not like he could deny that. What he did was close to that scenario anyway. He was lucky no one had seen him like that when he walked through the town or else it would be even more troublesome. He could just wish right now that his mom wouldn't call the police saying he's an imposter and had replaced his sweet son.

_How could things get even worse than it is…_ he sighed.

"Open the door Gokudera. Dame-Tsuna seemed to have forgotten how to open a door," the squeaky voice of the baby infant made him sigh some more.

"No need to do what Reborn said, Hayato. I know as much how to open a door. You can go home now, and rest," he reached for the knob and turned it open to let himself in.

"I'm sorry Juudaime but I can't do that. As your right hand, I can't allow my boss to face the problem alone," the bomber resolutely declared, not daring to back down.

He didn't argue so instead he just lazily took off his shoes and went directly to the stairs; with Hayato and Reborn trailing behind. He was hoping his mom wouldn't notice him or his friend. Hayato was in a better state than he is but the chars on his clothes and scrapes on his body isn't exactly the ideal image he wants his mom to see. But his luck seemed to have run out when the sound of a bowl being dropped to the floor rang in the air. The look of horror in Nana's face greeted him as he shot his head to the door of the kitchen.

"Oka-san… I-" he stopped midway through his sentence when she slowly walked to him, the broken bowl and beaten egg lay forgotten on the ground. She stopped an arm away from him and reluctantly reached for his cheeks. He looked at her blankly as she took back her hand and ran off to the bathroom. He could understand the reaction he got and he couldn't blame her for that. He might have even acted far worse than that if it were him.

He stayed standing by the stairs, smiling sadly as he looked at his hands. The other two didn't say anything and only waited for him to do something. He was about to go off to his room when he felt something cold pressed on his cheek. He didn't expect his mom to hurry back to him with a basin full of water and a towel on her hand. He stared at the older female with wide eyes as she carefully took him to the living room to sit. He sat there frozen as she damped the wet towel to his face and wiped the dried blood off. She wiped off the blood on his body as carefully as she can. While doing so, her eyes begun to water. Her touch was gentle like how she would do it when he arrived home one day with mud splashed all throughout. Only now, it wasn't mud she was trying to get rid of but blood; and it wasn't him who was crying this time, it was her. She enveloped him with his arms as soon as she finished cleaning him. Then, she cried and cried.

_Oka-san… arigatou…_

Awhile after his mother's breakdown, Tsuna brought his mom to her room and let her stay there and rest. He doesn't want the kids to see them like that when they wake up. And so he went to his room to go and have a shower, feeling the water wash away the blood left from his whole body. He then went off to get some fresh clothes. After getting changed, he laid on his bed, tired. Slowly, he felt light headed. His body wouldn't move no matter how much his mind screamed to stay awake. Soon, he found himself falling asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, so maybe it's been like months since I updated because of school. You see... it has been quite stressful on those months that I literally got sick over it and i had so little time for writing on those moments. So yeah... Sorry about that. Anyway, this will be a double update so I hope it would be fine.

Oh, and please bear with my crappy updates. It's been awhile since I wrote something good, so my writing skills had become quite rusty. I've been exposed with thick books and script-writing these past few months so yeah, this may have turned out rough. Not that my writing skills are that great to begin with anyway. But I'll try my best to get the flow back.

So, how do things look so far?

There's not gonna be much fight scenes for a few chapters or even none at all but there will be… soon. So you can look out for the future happenings. I'll make as interesting as I could, and make it better. I'll do my best, ne~

And of course, a many thank you to all of you reading my fic, for waiting for the slow update, to all that have faved this fic as well as faving me, and the reviews are very much appreciated as well. Arigatou na, minna~

**luvtuna27**- don't worry I'm not going to make this into a HibarixChrome.

**Kanojo wa Rinko-** Yeah, I guess I noticed that as well. Hehe… my bad…

**SadisticPrincess13**- thank you!

**Hanazono Aya- **I'm glad you love it. And yeah, Sakura is scary and crazy. I intended her to be that way... hehe… ^^

**Syrlai- **Oh my, that seemed too much for me, my head would get big with that praise. But thanks nonetheless. It's very much appreciated. XD

**Clippit- **yup, Super Tuna indeed. And yes again for your right guess. I was actually panicking when I read your review on the other chapter 'cause you guessed it right. I was panicking 'cause I want my stories to be unpredictable as much as possible. I guess, I am still not that good. But I'll do my best. Oh, yeah. I remember the request you had. Don't worry I haven't forgotten it. In truth I've already written halfway through it months ago but I was just too busy. But since its vacation now, I could finish that and update faster.

**SakuraHaruno9- **I hope my fic would continue to interest you as it advances. ^^ And sorry for the long wait.

**ShiningStarz94**-ahh, I'm really sorry about my fic updates' months long absence. But I'm happy you're excited about it. XD

**IchigoStrawberryXX**- haha… here's the next one. I hope you enjoyed it.

**Reiyayru**- why, thank you~ yes, yes… don't worry I plan on fixing that one of these days… I'm just getting lazy here.

**Sherry Leblanc**- Of course, I would. I don't have any reason not to so yeah… I am continuing this story. My updates just got delayed because school took all my time, is all. And thank you, your awesome too.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_Famiglia_

05/05/2011

* * *

Gokudera stayed somewhere in the hallway just beside the living room where his Boss and mother were while Reborn had left off somewhere else. He could hear sobbing behind his back. Unable to disturb the two in the room, he let them be. It was not his place to disturb his Boss' private engagements. He lit a cigar and patiently leaned his back on the wall. He wanted to support his Boss in any possible situation, to serve him loyally and faithfully no matter what it is the brunette would do. However, right now he knows he couldn't do anything more than to wait silently until his Boss would need him again.

It was almost an hour later when the two went out of the room with Tsuna supporting Mamman upstairs to her room. He asked if he could help but the brunette shook his head and carried on. He nodded his head and gestured he'd wait for him in the living room but he didn't think Tsuna had seen him do so. Still with this knowledge he sat down on one of the couches of the said room and waited. Even when he heard the tenth-to-be walk off to his own room, he just stayed. He wouldn't even blame the guy if he'd fall asleep and forgot about him in a while. He'd actually feel a lot better if his Boss would do that. The guy hasn't gotten any decent sleep for days then suddenly the enemies barged in with a bucket full of problems. And they were more than displeased with this.

"Tch. Stupid people, thinking they could just declare to destroy Vongola just like that," scowling more than ever, he cursed, "Bastards."

"Gokudera-dono,"

His head shot up, alarmed. He hadn't noticed Basil standing in front of him. Hell, he didn't notice anything around him at all. _Get a hold of yourself and stop acting like a dope!_ He mentally slapped himself to keep himself more aware of his surroundings… and awake.

"What art thou doing here, Gokudera-dono? And why doest thou look like that? Hast something happened?" the CEDEF member asked, worried.

"You're late. Those damned weak bastards attacked us last night and we already finished them all off," he answered.

The other was taken aback at the news. Well they should be in his opinion. They should have been here to help protect his beloved Tenth and not arrive right after everything's been dealt with.

"Where have you been anyway?" he snarled at the honey-haired fellow, "Shouldn't you people come here earlier than now?"

"Nono's guardians and the wholefamiglia were all in panic. They were all frantic to protect Nono from anything at all. It was hard to convince them that they won't need us and it was just as important to protect Tsuna," Iemitsu revealed his presence and went to the seat in front of him, "To think we arrived after the enemies had already been defeated. And here we thought all those information we got about that group could be made used to our advantage." Iemitsu went mulling over the delay they had to deal with.

"Sir, I just got a call from our men that the Vendice came. It seems that only four were taken. One was missing. The teams were already looking around," Oregano reported as she entered the room as well, "We believe it was Dalmazio Lombardi, the former Brunazzi assassin."

Iemitsu nodded, he was about to bash on the Italian bomber on why they didn't even gave them a call about the danger they were just in when he noticed the basin and towel painted with blood in the table. His eyes narrowed, "What's that doing here? Did you-"

"No. Mamman saw Juudaime all covered up with blood. She used those to wipe off the blood on Juudaime then she cried. They just stopped a minute before you came in, _I think_. Mamman and Juudaime were both on their rooms, resting now," he said then pocketed his hand to get some cigarette. He took out the box but there were nothing left inside. He growled inside, _Great._

"Nana saw Tsuna…" the CEDEF boss' eyes widened in realization, "…and the kids?"

"I-" Gokudera blinked when he finally remembered those rowdy kids.

"Bianchi-dono hast taken them out," Basil said, as everyone inwardly thanked the poison expert, "Thou hast nothing to worry. Bianchi-dono hast stated none of the younger ones hast seen anything they're not meant to see.*"

Iemitsu had nodded in approval then turned back to the bomb expert. The room suddenly tensed with the CEDEF Boss' sharp eyes and serious face, "Tell me… what had happened?"

* * *

Stepping off of his bed, Tsuna took his time to shake off the dizziness he got from sleeping for what he had guessed had been hours. As soon as he had his mind cleared, he headed straight to the stairs. On his way, he was wondering why it has been oddly quiet and –he dare say it- peaceful. He wondered what has rendered his usual noisy and lively home to turn so silent. This feat can only be accomplished during the times of the younger residents' absence, or times of sleep. And since it was in the middle of a Saturday's afternoon it was likely that the said children would be playing outside. He sighed in relief. That, he was thankful for. He had a feeling the children's presence would make things difficult for him; especially now that he was expecting some kind of an interrogation from his mother. Surely, she was shocked after seeing him covered in blood that morning and was not able to prepare her mind for it.

He fixed himself once more as he reached the end of the stairs. He looked to his left and had found signs of guests' arrival. His eyes narrowed, _I know when I went upstairs Hayato was here. It was unlikely he'll leave. _Slowly, he inspected his surroundings,_ I don't see any holes on the wall, so it's safe to say that the _guests_ weren't enemies. That's good._ He sighed. Composing himself, he walked off to the living area and found something he hadn't expected he'll see in his own home.

Nana was sitting silently on the couch with her head bowed down and her face unreadable. Iemitsu, whose attendance weren't expected by him, had his back turned. It looked as if he was thinking deeply, his eyes distant and unfocused; and his expression so stern and serious that Tsuna wouldn't have believed it was his father if he had not seen him this serious before. Everything about him right now screamed business. And Tsuna had pretty much figured out why. Then, looking straight ahead was Basil inspecting the perimeter on the yard. When the honey-haired fellow had noticed his gaze, they exchanged nods for acknowledgement. The rest of the occupants seemed to have noticed his entry and had turned to him.

"Juudaime…" Hayato had gone to his side from a corner in the room. Worry was still lingering on the Italian bomber's face but it had soon replaced by joy as Tsuna had given him assurance of his well-being. Iemitsu had gestured for him to sit and he had graciously accepted this- in the outside that is, although inside him, hell was breaking lose- while Hayato had placed himself behind.

Iemitsu, with his back still facing them spoke, "Tsuna, my son, it's good to see you looking well."

He nodded back despite knowing his father can't see him. Silently he gulped and bit the inside of his cheeks. He had tried so hard to mask the worry and fear he had inside. He doesn't want his mother to fear him nor leave him and his father because of his tainted hands. He knew he had to take sacrifices along the road he had chosen to take and he had convinced himself that it must be done so he tried to prepare himself for the numerous scenarios he could thought of . But this… this he wasn't prepared for.

His thoughts stopped the moment Iemitsu had set himself in between his mother and him so that his mother was sitting in front of him while his father was on the seat adjacent to both of them. With his head bowed, he took a glimpsed at his mother. She looked like she was in distraught. He may not see her eyes properly but the dried tears on her cheeks had assured him she had been crying since moments ago. He was cursing himself now. How could he be so stupid as to go home so casually looking like a murderer? He could have just stayed somewhere else and had fixed himself before going back, or he could have just quietly climbed off to his room by the window. He could have thought of anything just to prevent this from happening.

He blamed himself for this parody. How he could be so foolish?

"Oregano, Basil, Gokudera… would you three leave us for now?" Iemitsu says, stating an order more than a suggestion.

"I'm sorry but I can-"

"Hayato, do as he says," Tsuna cuts off his self-proclaimed-right-hand-man with finality that left no place for an argument to the dynamite user.

Hayato begrudgingly left the room after the other two CEDEF members had gone out.

"Nana-" the CEDEF leaders halts as Nana raised her hands to stop him from continuing.

"Please…" she muttered in a soft voice loud enough for only the other two males to hear, "Iemitsu don't lie to me."

"I wasn't going to lie to you," Iemitsu faced his wife with sincere eyes that Nana did not even bat an eye with, instead continued staring at the floor.

"I…" Nana said, hesitating for a minute. Biting her lower lip, she continued, "I've known you really weren't doing what you say you do, Iemitsu. I know there's something suspicious going on here especially when Reborn-kun came. It wasn't hard to miss that Reborn-kun has been pushing Tsuna to do more than just studying for school. Bianchi and the kids' arrival weren't coincidental as well. Well, who wouldn't be suspicious if your husband travels all over the world as a construction worker with a paycheck like the CEO from a big company, then a 5-year-old kid suddenly appears looking all professional and declares to be a tutor, plus the undeniable explosions that has been going on around the house… It's not exactly inconspicuous.

"But I kept quiet about all these. How could I say something when I see you so happy whenever you get back home after your years of absence. When… when Tsuna suddenly gains such nice and dependable friends he didn't have before Reborn-kun came. How could I when I see this home so lively and full of laughter every time," tears came spilling out of Nana's face. She kept wiping it off with her hands but it kept on flowing so she continued, "I just couldn't bring myself to reprimand you. Even though it hurts that the people you trust and care about had shunned you out on an important of their world.

"I know you have your reasons for these so I waited for any of you to speak. I waited… and waited. I waited as patiently as much as I could and continue to pretend everything's alright for your own sake…" Nana raises her head to look at them and smiled sadly. Even without saying it directly, disappointment was clearly etched on her eyes but there was a glint of willingness for acceptance and understanding lingering on those brown orbs, "So please tell me now. I've waited long enough, haven't I? Won't you at least ease this woman's dread, distress isn't exactly a wonderful feeling."

"Okaa-san…" Tsuna getting guilty, wanted to go and comfort his mother but he pause when Nana shook her head.

Turning to him, she sweetly smiled at him, "Tsu-kun, don't worry. Okaa-san's not mad at you. 'kaa-san could never be mad at you because Tsu-kun will always be 'Kaa-san's cute little Tsu-kun, ne~"

"Nana, I didn't mean to make you worry," Iemitsu stood from his seat and went to take the said person's hands clasped in between his'. It was silent in between them. Nana's eyes hardened but her smile remained as she took her hands back rather roughly out of Iemitsu's hold.

"Of course, you didn't, dear…" Nana said slowly and smiled, dangerously sweet at her husband, "Now, why don't you go back to your seat and explain everything to me what have you been doing when you're not home; what influence have you gotten my son into, for him to go home all bloodied; and why must I continue to trust you weren't cheating on me before I go get that rifle and TNTs I found on the basement three years ago, kick you out of the house, and call for an annulment. So start explaining dear~"

"H-Hai!"

"Good, good… Tsu-kun~ could you get 'Kaa-san and 'Tou-san some tea and biscuits? And don't forget to bring the knife, ok? I want to make sure 'Tou-san isn't going to lie to me,"

"Y-Yes, ma'am," the soon-to-be-tenth had suddenly sprang up of his seat and mechanically headed to the direction of the kitchen.

"N-Nana… there's no need for the knife," Iemitsu went waving his hand in the air, sweating profusely over the cold and sharp glimmer on his supposedly sweet wife's eyes.

"Oh, and get the lemon, too~ Hurry up with the tea, Tsu-kun. It looks like 'Tou-san needs it so badly,"

"!" alarmed, the younger brunette marched off.

"Explanation please~"

"Now... how should I say this. You know, it's actually funny. You see... uhm... Have you heard of Vongola mafia family?"

* * *

_Omake:_

On the hallway, outside the living room…

Sweating considerably fast, the two CEDEF members and lone Tenth's guardian gulped as they heard Nana's obvious threats to the Vongola advisor. They were now regretting they decided to stay near the entrance to the room were the trio were discussing family matters.

_I hath not an idea Nana-dono could act so…._ The honey haired Katar wielder gulped.

"I will never l-look at Nana-san in the same l-light again," Oregano tightened her hold over her pistol as if afraid of what will happen to her boss.

_Mamman's so… scary. I'm not going to refuse her meal offers again_, Gokudera thought as he uncomfortably leaned on the wall, trying to look cool and calm.

"Oregano-san, Basil-kun, Gokudera-kun… do you three wants some tea?" Nana suddenly called from inside. Sweating more than ever, the three shook their head all at the same time then realized she couldn't see them.

"N-No thank you, Ma'am!" they answered like a soldier would to their commander.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Ok~ If you say so,"

* * *

*I'm not really good with Old English like how I used to when I- uhh… anyway, yeah. Pardon the eyesore.

**A/N:** Yay for scary Nana~ and for my first omake. Anyway, the former scene was too serious and mellow dramatic that I just couldn't help but break. Hehe… I hope that didn't looked to corni. I'm not really good with funny scenes.

Anyway, I'll be updating faster for the next few weeks if I wouldn't get any kind of writer's block.

Please say so if I failed doing this chapter. So, review~ please!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Well, I don't have much to say but sorry, I guess, for the two year hiatus (a bloody long time if you ask me) and for the reluctance I had formerly expressed. It's just that it's been complicated and all. So yeah... Thanks for sticking with me even though I've been such a (sorry for the language) douche bag. I'll try to be less of that.

Anyway, I know I've posted this with that former announcement for discontinuity but I'll repost it again, nonetheless. I'll also be saying sorry in advance 'cause I most likely won't be able to update fast and that since it's been so long, my writing skills had practically rusted, I think, and my the plot would stray from the original one so it might create unwanted clashes with my former chapters.

The actual update would come after these two chapters I'm posting now. I'm still conceptualizing my plot so do be patient with me.

And lastly, thank you to all of you! All those reviews and alerts and, gawd, faves Famiglia had received even with my hiatus had always been overwhelming that it almost felt like I've been repeatedly stabbed with every review, alert, and fave due to guilt! But still… I love you all! Thank you so much!

* * *

Chapter 14

"Famiglia"

03/28/13

* * *

_She took back her attention to the pair at the back and focused on the brunette's expression. She couldn't see his face much because of the darkness but what she could see most evidently was that grim thin line on his mouth._

_Tsuna noticed her gaze and turned to her. She immediately stopped, her breathing becoming ragged and her heart thumping so loud. He blinked at her then smiled sadly. He turned away from her and left._

Tsuna... kun…_ was her only thought as he watched the brunette's retrieving back. She felt as if he was leaving her. She held onto her chest tightly with that thought. _Tsuna-kun… are you really going to-

_Her bangs covered her face,_ Why am I sad when I think that he's going to part with me…?

* * *

Kyoko sighed as she walked from her house to school. It's the first day of the week and also the day her _friend_, Tsuna, was going back to school. And it has been two days since that day she was kidnapped by her said friend's enemy.

_Friend,_ somehow she felt her chest cringed at that, _He's my friend… Just a friend? No, he's a lot more than that to me. He's different… and special. Yeah, I guess that's it. He's a special friend._

She smiled at that thought. Her heart flickered with a gentle but exciting feeling. Her smile only grew as she reminisced all her times with him and their friends, all the fun times and all the sides she saw him as. The side that only his closest friends and family see, that courage and passion he shows when someone needs help. Then, the incident a few nights ago came to her mind. Her heart flickered even more. It's like a fast acceleration from fluttering butterflies to rummaging bees. But this time it isn't sweet and subtle.

She stopped on her tracks and held her chest tight. Looking down to the pavement, with her eyes covered with her bangs, she felt pain. Her eyes stung as her feelings are about to burst out and her tears about to spill. She closed her eyes, trying so hard to stop the tears from falling. All she could think of is him leaving her. She can't transmute her feelings to words, so she could understand what she feels. She felt like she was breaking down.

"Kyoko!" her best friend's voice rang to her ear. Her eyes widened in alert. She immediately dried her watery eyes with her sleeves and turned to her friend with a smile.

Hana looked at her indifferently as she scrutinized her fake smile. They both know each other to sense any trouble from the other. And knowing Hana, she'd probably blame Tsuna and his friends or her brother if anything's wrong with her. She absolutely doesn't want to blame it to them and of course, she doesn't want to worry her friend so all she could do is act like nothing is wrong.

"Ohayou," she greeted her friend, trying her best to put on an act.

Hana seemed to be contemplating on her mind whether she should believe her or not. But then breathes out a greeting, deciding to ride on Kyoko's drive, sensing that the other doesn't want to talk about it. But Kyoko's sure she'll have to tell her friend about her problem sooner or later. And later's better than now; better than troubling her friend with her confused feelings.

They continued to talk about the usual things as they walked to their school, like how it normally is. She was thankful for that. She's thankful her friend understands her well. She just hopes she could understand herself well enough as well.

She smiled and greeted her schoolmates as they proceeded to their locker, changed their shoes and took some of the books they'll need for class, then to their class rooms. She sat to her seat and went chattering with her friend and a few of her classmates. It was their free period so they could just do whatever they want. They were in the middle of talking about a sitcom they all watched on television during the weekend, when Tsuna walked in with his friends.

She of course, excused herself from her friends to greet the reason of her confusion. He greeted her back but not with the usual enthusiasm he had when he does so though. Taking in his appearance, she noticed the small dark circles on his eyes. _Ahh, I see._ She assumed it's from all the catching up he did on the weekend for school, which also explains his lack of energy.

"Ah, Kyoko-chan, here's all the notes I borrowed from you," Tsuna took a bag where her supposed-notes were, and gestured to hand it in to her.

She gently shook her head and smiled at him, "Don't worry, Tsuna-kun. I don't need those. I already have my own notes, I made those for you. So you can just keep it."

He nodded his head and gave her a small thank you then went back to talking to his two best friends.

Kyoko blinked at his coldness and turned to her friends as well, hiding her displease. Later on she decided to shrug it off, thinking he's only tired.

Every once in a while she'll steal a glance to the brunette, noting his calmer character that the others seemed to have noticed as well since she could see how they would blink whenever he wouldn't do his signature indignant shriek even when their teacher had announced a pop quiz in science. Their teacher even raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off, muttering something like '_too sick to act in character'_.

His calm demeanor wasn't much of an issue to her or anyone else but what surprised them or rather impressed them was when he was asked to go to the board and answer the problem written there. Without any complain or hesitation he stood from his seat, walked to the board, and answered the problem. The rest of the class just stared at him, sans a proud Gokudera- who kept on praising his precious Juudaime's work,- and a laughing Yamamoto saying something about losing his math-failing partner. Their teacher had recovered with his stupor first and had told the brunette to explain his solution. Tsuna did just that. His explanation may not have been as intricate as Gokudera's, but a brief and correct explanation nonetheless. Tsuna just looked at the rest of the class and their teacher in boredom and went back to his seat. Their teacher seemed to have been too shocked that he just continued to his lecture and mumbled a '_certainly still too sick to act in character, probably a side-effect of something he drank'_ to himself. The rest of the class had taken in that little comment their teacher made and went back to their business.

The class went on that way, with him getting fewer wrong answers from the questions their teachers bat him with; and though he was still the weakest link in their game of soccer in their PE class, she heard that he performed better. He was able to kick the ball and pass it to a teammate successfully! That may not be much to others but to Tsuna it's a big leap to a higher level. Heck, she even heard he helped Yamamoto score a point by faking a pass to Gokudera and kicked the ball to Yamamoto who's already waiting near the goal; thus, leading Gokudera sulking for a while. Her classmates may be too surprised with the change or rather improvement in him but for her it was a big relief. Somehow, she knows that this'll be the start of his change. However, she doesn't know whether her relationship to him would change as well. Just thinking about it makes her emotions stir in a whirlpool of pain.

She watched from afar as day by day he keeps on getting better at everything everyone thought he's bad with. She felt proud and happy for him. She could see more students are starting to accept and acknowledge him like the rest of them and not as a below-the-average guy. And day by day, their bond's getting weak and the link that connects them keeps on thinning out despite being classmates and living in the same neighborhood. It's not like he ignores her or avoids her, he's too nice to do that; he still greets her and talk to her, but it's just not like how it used to. The warm welcome he gives her, the earnest laugh he does when they talk about something funny… the bright smiles she sees him do when he sees her, all seemed to be fading to nothing. It's just isn't the same anymore. And she just can't seem to stop the gap between them to get farther.

"Tsuna-san's isn't the same anymore… Tsuna-san doesn't like Haru anymore. He doesn't smile and hang-out with Haru anymore… Tsuna-san has left Haru alone…" Haru told her once when they saw each other one day on the cake shop they often go to. And the girl isn't all that happy and enthusiastic like how she was before. And she understands what the girl's going through very well.

She had talked to him alone one afternoon but it hadn't been much. Sure they'd exchange a few words from each other but their conversation would turn dead once in a while. During the lack of exchange between them, there was silence. It wasn't awkward on those times but it was just silent and nothing else; so she tried opening a topic as much as she could just to avoid the silence. When she was about to leave to heed her friend's call, she heard him mutter something in a soft voice that's almost inaudible to hear. But she heard it nonetheless.

It feels painful like tearing her to pieces slowly and it burns her within until she felt sore.

She felt sad and empty.

She leaned to the wall on the staircase beside the door leading to the rooftop, listening to the sounds coming from the other side. The door's a bit open so she could hear what they are saying clearly. She could hear the laughter and chattering on the place she stood in. Just hearing his voice makes her miss the times she had with him. Those wonderful times just seemed so far away now and had run away from her grasp. She smiled sadly as Yamamoto spot her, his expression was sad and he seemed to understand the reason behind her sad smile. She shook her head gently as he gestured her to come and hang-out with them again, his expression almost pleading. She stood straight and turned around as she walked down to the stairs, away from _him_.

She let a tear fall out of her face as she remembered what he said that afternoon.

_I'm sorry… goodbye._


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Famiglia"

03/28/13

* * *

_It feels painful like tearing her to pieces slowly and it burns her within until she felt sore._

_She felt sad and empty._

_She leaned to the wall on the staircase beside the door leading to the rooftop, listening to sounds from the other side. The door's a bit open so she could hear what they are saying clearly. She could hear the laughter and chattering on the place she stood in. Just hearing his voice makes her miss the times she had with him. Those wonderful times just seemed so far away now and had run away from her grasp. She smiled sadly as Yamamoto spot her, his expression sad and seemed to understand the reason behind her sad smile. She shook her head gently as he gestured her to come and hang-out with them again, his expression almost pleading. She stood straight and turned around as she walked down to the stairs, away from him._

_She let a tear fall out of her face as she remembered what he said that afternoon._

I'm sorry… goodbye.

* * *

He kept on glancing at the door of the rooftop every now and then, as he was aware of the presence of another important person in his life was there. The rest of his friends have sensed her there as well but they knew that he doesn't want her to get close again. Tsuna didn't state his reason clearly but somehow, they know. She's too pure to get drawn to the filthy world of the mafia and they don't want to taint her or ruin her as well.

Yamamoto tried to invite her, and this didn't go unnoticed by the other two; but no one did anything to stop the baseball player. Tsuna may not admit it, but deeply within him he wants her to accept the silent invitation. He stared at his bento sadly as he heard her leave. Her footsteps echoed down the staircase. The trio stopped their musings and sat there silently when they were sure she was out of hearing range.

Tsuna looked up to the sky with sad eyes and covered it with his left hand. He let out a bitter chuckle. He was disappointed at her decline but he wasn't regretting what he did.

"Are you sure about this, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked.

"If you change your mind, now's the time Juudaime. We could always hire bodyguards to protect her; or if she would be willing to, we could get someone to teach her how to protect herself," Gokudera offered, concerned for his boss' well-being.

He shook his head, "No, it's her decision as well. I didn't push her away so it was her decision if she would persist to stay or let the distance between us grow."

"But Tsuna, you know you gave her a reason to stay away," Yamamoto reasoned out, almost desperately trying to convince him to stand up and run after her.

He gives no reply and just continued watching the sky between his fingers. The baseball player sighed as if giving up the idea but still tried to convince him, "And Ryohei-sempai's still mad at you."

He closed his eyes in distress, he honestly didn't want to treat her or Haru this way but he doesn't want them to get hurt either anymore. He remembers how much his sun guardian argued with his decision and even had punched him in the face when he still decided otherwise. Ever since then, the boxer has been giving him the cold shoulder. And truthfully speaking, he doesn't know how to fix it.

He thought this is the right thing to do. When he consulted Reborn, the hitman agreed to his reason but had left him the decision whether to implement his choice or not. The hitman even warned him with the consequences that he knew himself as well. But when he made it final, the boxer just exploded and had argued with him saying that it's not right and he shouldn't do it. He got punched straight to his face; his nose broken and lips bleeding. He didn't fight back and accepted it silently, knowing very well he deserved it. He even told off Gokudera with the matter to not interfere to whatever may happen. The bomber was fuming and spatting on one side as the exchange happened. After that, the older male left and hadn't even approached him since. Ryohei was determined to not even as much as to look at him until he changes his mind. But he wouldn't. He wouldn't risk their lives anymore for him, not anymore that he has come to accept that he can't run away from it. The boxer will just have to come into terms with his decision for he is his sun guardian and no one else would fit for the position because he is family; and no matter how much Tsuna hoped he isn't, he's their boss.

He decided to accept the position right after the incident with the _Angelo Cremisi_. He couldn't pretend that the mafia's all but a childish game where danger does not exist. Once you get in it, albeit by his own will or not, he couldn't just walk out that easily. Too much has happened. He has been dragged in deeper and his friends got entangled with it as well. If he leaves, it's not just him who'll live a life of uneasiness but also his friends and family. The best way to prevent that from happening is for him to stop running and face the problem head-on. He didn't accept it for himself nor for the money or even the power; he did so for the people he had learned to care about.

"Oi, dame-Tsuna, are you sure about this?" Reborn had asked him as he got back home. He nodded. His home tutor wasn't just asking about Kyoko or Haru, it was about something he had asked Reborn with. He had wanted to be trained to be a Mafioso and prove his worth before he would proceed to be a mafia boss. He had also asked permission from the Ninth and even the Outside Advisor, and they had given him their consent though the latter was reluctant about it. The CEDef leader may be his father but Iemitsu just had to respect his decision as the Ninth's successor.

He wanted to be trained in Italy where the mafia circulation rooted but Nono had decided otherwise, even Reborn agreed with the Ninth. The Ninth had stated during their video conference that he was not ready, and Nono's words were definite. Heir or not, he was in no position to defy the current boss' decision. Reborn was even given the orders of teaching him more on _mafia etiquette_, no matter how ironic the term may sound. He was taught from mafia hierarchy, _laws_, and the family's connections to the rest of the world, the _omerta_… down to the criminal activities they are accounted for. Everything just seemed so hard for him accept. Anyone brought out as morally adept as he was would be the same. The concept of right and wrong just doesn't seem so sturdy to his mind anymore. Formerly, he believed that what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong; no matter how right the reason given is but with a wrong action done, it's still wrong. However now, perspectives must be accounted with. The reason involved with a certain cause and what effect it would do just thwarted what he believed. However, if adapting to these new concepts and evolving as someone thwarted by realisms would make his _famiglia_ well, then it would all be worth it.

There's no more need for doubts or refusals. He has to keep on moving.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Famiglia"

03/28/13

* * *

It was supposedly an ordinary Monday morning, an ordinary school day that students look forward to seeing their friends again after the weekend and at the same time loath for the start of a torturous week of homework and studies. However, a single person's presence, casually walking by the gates of their school, had changed that expectation within the minds of most of the population. A student with a slick black _gakuren _and a red armband worn by his left sleeve was a glaring obvious meaning to anyone who went to Namimori Middle, a member of the Disciplinary Committee.

Upon recovering from this unexpected event, some went to watch this individual in awe, fear, scrutiny, and ridicule. Some had instantly went to gossip in their not-so-hushed tones about this certain occurrence. Of course, it is certainly out of the ordinary to see that _gakuren_ in the time of spring worn by _him_ of all people. Only delinquents lead by that infamous bloodcurdling lark wore that atrocious out-of-the-season clothing. And to think _he_ would even dare wore such a thing? It is unthinkable even to the mind of the subject of this revelation.

"_Just ignore them. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out!_" he thought, chanting to himself while trying so hard to calm himself down even though he's actually already sweating profusely underneath his clothing. He had to ignore all the attention he's getting because he had to do this else face the bloody and painful consequences brought by a demon baby tutor, no matter how much his mind screamed for his young mind to run.

Suddenly, a sneer took his attention. Apparently, Hayato had been holding back really hard to not throw in a few dynamite sticks to his schoolmates. His bomber friend is obviously annoyed, their schoolmates' gossiping is today's reason, whilst Yamamoto had been silent throughout their whole walk to school. It's been like this since they left his home this morning sans for the usual exchange of greetings, as well as the sneers and grunts from the Italian silverette, it's been relatively quiet between the three. It's really an unusual event. There was no one-sided banter between his two guardians, Yamamoto wasn't the reason for Hayato's irritation, Hayato hadn't pulled out a single dynamite, Yamamoto was smirking amusedly, he wasn't running late, and he wasn't the one being ignored for the first time instead it was his companions that had not been the center of attention which is quite a feat in itself, since the two had been really popular.

Tsuna sighed to himself. He honestly hadn't expected to take part on such a committee so infamous that all of the townsfolk had learned to fear. He wouldn't even think of joining if not for the fact that his tutor had deemed that it would be a good addition to his curriculum on training as a future mafia boss. He had wanted to laugh at his tutor when he had first heard of it but the serious expression on the baby _mafioso_ made him swallow, hard. The kid-like hitman had explained it to be necessary. The committee would apparently give him experience on dealing with small fry thugs and _yakuza_ as well experiencing, though to a mild degree of the mafia hierarchy like-structure (i.e. boss-underling relation), a subordinate's life.

'_Anything big begins from something small,_' his tutor had said. And thus, his appointment as a disciplinary committee member became official.

As he had urged his two companions to continue without him to their classroom, he had carried on to his new routine. Nursing his head as he stood in front of the committee room, he dreaded this time to report to his new superior. It was some sort of a member's obligation to report dutifully to either to the head prefect or to their second-in-command at least once a day. And since it's his first day as a committee member he was **ordered** to present himself before the morning bell rings. This also meant he has to wake up **really** early just to get on time. Breathing in deeply, he put on the most stoic face (but inwardly he was in terror) he could make as he entered after knocking the seemingly-innocent entrance to the reception room.

"Ah! Sawada-san, we were expecting you," the voice of one Kusakabe Tetsuya greeted him as soon as he had fully entered the room, "Hibari-san went to patrol the school grounds so he couldn't meet you personally today but he did told me to brief you over with our committee protocols."

Internally sighing in relief, he smiled at the only other person on the room, "It's not a problem Kusakabe-san."

Nodding, Kusakabe started explaining to him his duties as part of the organization. The pompadour-haired-fellow told him the grounds he'd be checking in with certain periods of times during the days he's required to be in duty. Although he's now a prefect, he wasn't obliged to serve the committee all days of the week unlike the rest of his now co-prefects. Reborn had purposely convinced Hibari ( though to what grounds had he done so he didn't he didn't wanna know) to let him off during the weekends due to the fact that these days were reserved for _something else_. 'An exemption' is what his tutor had pointed to him. And part of the exemption he had appreciated from all this was the part where he wouldn't have to style his hair to a pompadour. He was really glad about it that he couldn't help but smile.

"Besides patrolling the grounds, you'll also be obligated to hold off fights, initiate appropriate punishments, and investigate things that seem suspicious when told so by the chairman and anything else the chairman orders…" Kusakabe filled in while taking a few papers and checking them one by one, "It seems that you're only main requirement is to patrol during lunch breaks and… hmmm?"

"Is there something wrong, Kusakabe-san?" he asked as he raised a brow when the other worn a confused face.

"Oh… uh… nothing… I knew you're on a special case here but I didn't know that you have to patrol with the chairman after school ends… hmm… he wouldn't normally had anyone accompany him, in fact he would always go alone.* I've only come with him a few times, but that's only 'cause I need to report urgent matters to him…

"…hmm… he must like your company then…?"

'_I doubt he does,'_ Tsuna immediately thought, '_it might have been Reborn who told him so._'

"Uhh… is there anything else, Kusakabe-san?"

The prefect thought for a moment before answering, "Actually, there is something else." A pause, as if trying to decide on something, before the boy had continued, "It seems that… there had been disturbing… explosions coming from the back of the boxing club's room recently, could you check that out? The chairman has been really busy to go there himself but I think it'll be fine if it would be you. You know of Sasagawa Ryohei-san, right?"

He nods reluctantly as the other smiles, "Ah, that's good. Sasagawa-san could be really hard to deal with and I think that's why the chairman's trying to keep himself busy with other things just so he could avoid dealing with the boxing captain himself. He found Sasagawa-san really troublesome even though he disliked disturbances like these, so if you wouldn't mind, could you go there instead?"

A twinge of worry flew to his face but he had quickly replaced it with a fake smile of acceptance as he nodded his head to a yes.

"Alright. Well, that's all… you're dismissed. You can just come here after your lunch for your patrolling duties…"

With that, Tsuna exited the room. He's not looking forward to being a prefect but if it's something he has to do, then he would. "_This is for everyone…_"

Walking in to his homeroom, he found himself as the center of attention once again. He has stilled for a moment before proceeding to his desk. This sudden change really is getting into him now. Before, he would either be ignored by the class or be the center of ridicule for the class; but that changed when he had showed potential to be able to keep up with the norm these past few weeks. He had actually liked it that way. He wasn't ignored because he's a nobody anymore; but instead because he's like every other student; though being best friends with two of the most popular boys in their school does give him more attention than the norm sometimes. However, today, as he paraded himself wearing the disciplinary committee's _uniform_ he could feel the scrutiny and fear from students. And that wasn't what he wanted. Blending in like an average student is something really likeable but being the cause of fear is something he detests. Frowning a bit with that idea, he looked ahead to the blackboard trying to pay attention to keep his mind off of troublesome thoughts. He still gets difficulty with some of the topics in every other subject, but he could manage somehow, Reborn's tutoring is finally paying off. But that shouldn't be what he should be mulling about. He needs to think of how he'll be able to talk with Ryohei.

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGG GGGGGGG!_

"_And there goes the bell,"_ he sighed. He hadn't even thought of a single plan on how to talk with Ryohei the whole morning period. Arranging his things and taking out his lunch, he along with Hayato and Yamamoto had walked off to the rooftop for their lunch. It was peaceful for awhile until Hayato had finally had it and blew off on Yamamoto. It was nice that some things hadn't changed. But he had to cut his lunch break fast 'cause he had some patrolling to do which would sadly be the norm from now on. Sighing once again, he packed his empty bento and gestured on leaving. The other two would have come with him, but they all knew Hibari would definitely disapprove of the crowding so he had to leave them to their devices, and of course making sure Hayato wouldn't start to try to kill Yamamoto and every other student he sees fit to blew off.

Patrolling wasn't really much of a problem; all he had to do was walk around and make sure nothing is wrong. But then again, when was it that nothing wrong had happened to his life once Reborn had shown up. Stopping a grimace from showing, he started strolling toward the delinquents towering over their victim. He gulped; apparently, said delinquents were one of his former bullies.

"_Don't run away. The poor kid needs help. Don't run away!"_ he convinced himself as he had kept his outer demeanor stern, _"Here goes nothing."_

"Excuse me," he nearly squeaked out as one of the delinquents had seen his approaching figure but caught himself as he had immediately noticed a glint from a nearby classroom that looked suspiciously like a gun.

"What are you doing with that student?"

One of the delinquents raised a brow at his clothing then fixed a smirk on his face as they finally realized who he was.

"Ahh… Dame-Tsuna. It's been awhile, hasn't it? Are you here to offer us your lunch money? You know, for old times' sake~" delinquent one snickered while signaling his other two companions to keep hold of their victim. Said victim though hissed as delinquent two clamped both his arms behind his back.

"Don't touch me!" the victim demanded.

Tsuna, recognizing the voice, turned to the victim, "Sato-kun?"

"Tch. Sawada. Leave me alone. I can take care of myself," Seiji twitched. He still hadn't gotten over his _"Dame-Tsuna is actually a mafia boss"_ thought even though said person had technically had gotten him revenge for his brother.

"Hehhh~ Having a lovers' quarrel, now are you?" delinquent three snickered, amused.

"So, who's the male in your relation?" delinquent two popped in as he pulled up a handful of Seiji's hair to be able to see said person's face, "Tch. You two can't be male, you're both too girly."

Laughing, either of the three hadn't even noticed the growing malicious aura from the new prefect, "Oi. Let go of him this instant."

"'_Hai!" _is what you'd want me to say but no can do kid. We like harassing wimpy kids like you very much. It relieves stress, yah know?" delinquent one gave the brunette a bored stare then continued harassing Seiji.

"!" a hand clutched delinquent one's arm.

"I said LET. GO. OF. HIM." Tsuna tightened his grip, making the delinquent wince in pain. Anticipating the other two would assault him, he yanked the arm forward and delivered a kick to said delinquent's stomach. The other two ran to him with their fists in a ball, and in response, Tsuna ducked underneath them and swiped them off the floor with his leg. He punched the face of the first one to stand and kicked the side of the other. This continued in another minute as he cycled kicks and punches, dodging when needed and trying not to trip on his feet, to the three till they couldn't stand anymore. By this time though, a few had already noticed the event and had started calling for more attention at what was happening. Tsuna massaged his fist as he tried to ignore the crowd and silently apologized for hurting the three.

"Can you stand?" Tsuna asked while Seiji huffed and stood up. Both looked at the crowd gossiping about what had just transpired. Massaging his temples, he sighed once again, "Hibari-san's not gonna be happy with this."

Finally taking notice of Tsuna's appearance and the unmistakable red armband, Seiji momentarily cringed and edged a bit in habit whenever he sees a prefect, "W-Why are you wearing that?"

Tsuna raised an eyebrow at the brief stutter but settled for an answer since he knew people would ask him that sooner or later. Better do it now in front of other students to get it over with and avoid having it repeated to others.

"I'm part of the committee now," he said simply, still hoping trying to evade saying the actual reason for it.

"Obviously, but why?"

Groaning inside his head, he put on a nonchalant face as he uttered his prepared answered, "I decided that I needed to grow a backbone so I asked Hibari-san to make me a prefect."

Seiji scowled at him, obviously not convinced but didn't comment, he figured it got something to do with being a future mafia boss, as the crowd conjured even more gossiping.

"Hibari-san's really not gonna like this," Tsuna said loud enough for the crowd to hear and just as immediately, the crowd dispersed in fear of getting bitten to death but did not stop with their gossips proceeding only in a much hushed tone.

"I'm leaving," Seiji walked off without waiting for an answer. Tsuna watched the other until he turned around a corner, limping a bit to the direction of the infirmary. Satisfied that his classmate would be getting himself treated, he turned to the three unconscious delinquents.

"_Everyone's gonna think I'm a delinquent now as well,"_ he scowled as he sent a message to Kusakabe for a clean-up. The committee's vice-chairman had given him his number in case he needed to report something, it seemed to be the most efficient way of delivering information but that didn't mean that he's not required to make a report about it in paper. _Twitch._

Nothing happened after that for the whole lunch period so he was a bit proud of himself for doing a good job for his first assignment as a prefect though he still felt awkward about being in the disciplinary committee. Whimpering at his current situation, he really don't want to be part of the committee, he tried to once again to keep up with his lessons for the afternoon and went back to thinking ways to talk to his Sun guardian when the teacher wasn't looking.

* * *

A/N: Well, this isn't really as long as my former chapters and I think this chapter's boring, but I'll try to make the next one better and longer. Anyway, please leave a review if you will. Thanks!


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